


The Game Continued

by Simonspeaking



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Drarry, Fluff, Hogwarts, M/M, Party Games, Quidditch, Room of Requirement, Truth or Dare, eighth year, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:56:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simonspeaking/pseuds/Simonspeaking
Summary: The eighth years decide to play Truth or Dare at a party for Interhouse Unity, after a very revealing game everyone is shocked as to what Harry Potter admitted. Unfortunately, Harry was black out drunk that night and doesn't remember anything from the party, and his friends are hesitant to tell him anything. It's a good thing Draco Malfoy isn't his friend...





	1. The Game Began

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever attempt at a fanfic, it's just a little idea I've been toying around with. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment any advice or suggestions. As of right now I don't know where this story is headed- so we'll be on this journey together.

He was drunk. Completely and entirely drunk.  
Harry had never been able to hold alcohol well, it wasn't a particular trait of his.  
He'd come along to Hermione's "interhouse unity" party to make her happy, and he was now deeply regretting that decision.  
he was delighted at first (and Hermione upset) when Dean Thomas brought a bottle of fire whiskey he'd snuck in from hogsmeade.  
It was a good thing overall that the alcohol made an appearance. Before Dean arrived the eighth years sat around awkwardly starring at each other in chairs the room of requirement had provided them. 

Very few eighth years had returned to Hogwarts after the war, Hermione forced Ron to attend and would've forced Harry if Harry had refused.  
But ever since he was 11 hogwarts was the only home Harry had ever known, and any chance he ever had to go back, he would.

It was difficult, for sure, to attend the school after all the terrible events that had happened. Every time he walked into the great hall he got flashbacks to the final duel with Voldemort- and he couldn't even think about even going down near the forbidden forest.  
Honestly, Harry had no idea how Malfoy did it everyday, when he was on the wrong side of the war. When he had actually hurt people in these rooms.  
Everyone had been surprised to see Draco Malfoy on the train to hogwarts that year, after all Draco had always made it known that he never liked school.  
Despite his past as a death eater, the ministry let him come back, no one really knew why. After all, he had narrowly escaped getting sent to Azkaban.  
Harry tried to stay out of Malfoy's life as much as possible- after giving his testimony at his trial, Harry didn't even want to hear the name "Draco Malfoy" again.  
But come September 1st, there he was on the train, looking prim and proper without a hair out of place. The bastard. 

Everyone in Slytherin, of course, welcomed him back with open arms but the other houses were more wary.  
In fact, everyone became more wary of the Slytherin house.  
During the first month of school the prejudice grew so thick you could cut it with a knife. Fights broke out almost everyday and Slytherins were getting sent to the hospital wing constantly because of jinxes and curses.  
Eventually Headmistress Mcgonagall stepped in and asked Hermione to start throwing these interhouse unity parties amongt the eighth years. She hoped if the younger students saw the older ones getting along, the fighting would dissapear.  
Hermione had thrown a few before this one, but Harry had refused to attend any of the previous ones. He thought the whole idea was stupid and the parties would be dreadfully boring, but in Hermione's defense they did seem to be working.  
It had gotten better, that's for sure, but even as the parties continued the fighting was still always present, peering around at the students constantly. Lurking. Just around every corner.  
Maybe that's why Dean brought the firewhiskey to this party, as an attempt to ignore all the social pressures and expectations they all faced.  
And it definitely worked, because two and a half cups of firewhiskey later, and Harry was sitting in a circle with the other partygoers, completely shitfaced and giggling as Hannah Abbott tried to teach him how to braid Millicent Bulstrodes hair.

They were all drunk at that point, and braiding her hair had seemed like a good idea. Harry tried to do it once without knowing how, which just resulted in a lot of crying and swearing, so Hannah being the loveable hufflepuff she was, gingerly offered to help.  
Everyone was completely immersed in their own conversations, but as the night grew one they gradually combined into one. Everyone was talking to everyone, regardless of their house, and Harry was starting to think maybe there was really something there about house unity.  
But as the conversations droned on, everyone began to get increasingly bored and restless.  
It had to be past midnight, so they were all sleep deprived, which is why Pansy Parkinson stood up and suggested they play truth or dare. After all, no one in their right mind would want to play truth or dare with this lot.  
It was an idiotic thing to do, especially with this crowd, but everyone nodded enthusiastically and unanimously agreed it was the best idea they'd ever heard.

Hermione was the only one of the group not entirely drunk (though still slightly wasted- after much pressure from her friends to "live a little") so she and Pansy parkinson (who was a wizarding truth or dare champ) set up the boundaries for the game.  
After much whispering between the two,  
Pansy Parkinson laid out the rules for everybody while Hermione busily prepared something in the back of the room

"Ok" she announced in a voice about an Octave higher than her normal voice 

"Same rules apply as the muggle game for all the mud-" she stopped suddenly "muggle borns out there" she nodded at Hermione "only in this version, there's a twist" she grinned fiendishly at these words as Hermione sauntered back to the circle clutching a bottle.  
"To make sure everyone tells the absolute truth, a shot of veritaserum before the game is required." After this was announced Hermione plunked the bottle in the middle of the circle.  
Harry assumed the room had conjured it.  
Everyone looked around slightly uneasy.

"But wait, there's more" Pansy practically sang. She pointed her wand, and suddenly a small piece of paper and a pencil appeared in front of everyone.  
"If you're a chicken- and I'm looking at you Gryffindor" she said with a smirk shooting a glance at Neville "and you don't accept your dare- you have to chose a truth made up by everyone at the start of the game."  
She crossed her arms across her chest and smiled in triumph.  
"Everyone needs to write down the deepest, most personal truth they can think of- after all this is a punishment, make it good."

Everyone started scribbling on their papers at once, Harry however, looked around in a drunken confusion as he tried to piece together what he just signed up for.  
He reached down for his pencil and sloppily wrote down a basic "what's the one thing you don't want anyone to know" on his little slip. It took a while and a lot of concentration- Harry debated about giving up halfway through when his blurry mind couldnt remember where the apostrophe went in don't.  
Eventually, though, he emerged victorious over the pencil and looked up, grinning at his success. Everyone else was done and waiting for him.  
"Mate" said Ron in a concerned voice "I think that's enough firewhiskey for you.  
Harry protectively hugged the red cup (his fourth) of the stuff as Ron tried to reach for it.  
"I don't know what you're talking about" said Harry carefully enunciating each word perfectly  
"I'm fine, great actually."  
Desperate to keep the attention of off him he said.  
"Let's start the game why don't we"  
Hermione nodded at this, and with a snap of her fingers the papers in front of everyone disappeared.

"You sure you're ok mate?" Ron asked quietly.  
Harry responded with a grin and a long drink of firewhiskey. Ron rolled his eyes and let go of the subject, taking a long drink from his own cup instead.  
Harry, feeling particularly brave that night, reached for the bottle of veritaserum in front of him.  
He gingerly took a swig from the bottle and passed it to bulstrode on his left.  
Ron, who was on his right, looked at Harry unsteadily.

The bottle passed around the circle and Harry swished the stinging minty liquid around in his cheeks before swallowing.  
It left a burning sensation down his stomach that seemed to eat its way into his heart. Harry felt a little uncomfortable, but the warmness the whiskey was providing him chased the unease away.  
"Hermione" Harry said in a surprisingly strong voice for how drunk he was  
"You go first".

Hermione's eyes narrowed as she looked around the circle of eight years, mentally picking a target.  
"Zabini" she said after about 30 seconds, "Truth or Dare."

Everyone looked at Blaise, curious as to what he would pick.

Blaise looked Hermione in the eyes, grinned arrogantly and said  
"Truth."

"Who do you like?" Hermione asked without missing a beat.

Harry looked at Blaise curiously, and noticed his mouth was twitching, as if he was fighting whatever he was about to say. 

"Millicent" he said sounding choked. There was a pang of silence and Blaise frowned.

Parvati Patil giggled uncomfortably in the silence that followed. She was really immature at times, that was for sure.

Blaise curled his lip and sneered at her  
"Honestly Granger, I expected more from you" he said not without malice "what are we, first years?"

Millicent, however seemed pleased to hear her name.  
"Well, I have a feeling this game is going to be very enjoyable" she said with a wicked grin.

With that simple statement, the game began. 

The game went by in a blur, Harry couldn't really pay attention and every thing was happening so quickly, he was more of an observer of the game though. That was, until  
Neville Longbottom snapped him out of his funk by saying:  
"Harry, truth or dare?"

Harry had to think about this, after all some of the dares he'd witnessed tonight were, a little degrading, to say the least. But seeing as how it was Neville, Harry decided Neville would be nice.  
"Truth" he said quietly. 

"What really happened, when you. Ya know." Neville paused and swallowed nervously "killed Voldemort."

Everyone got really quiet after that. 

Sure the daily prophet ran articles, and other magazines covered the subject mercilessly, but Harry had kept details to himself and everyone knew it.

He didn't want to answer. He really didn't. Harry wanted to forget about that night and everything that had happened, but he felt the potion bubbling in his stomach and suddenly the words fell out of his mouth like vomit.

"I thought I had to die" Harry said first.  
"I figured out that I was the last horcrux, and I needed to die in order to destroy Voldemort. That's why I went to him, I knew he would kill me and we would win." Harry paused and swallowed the bile in his throat that arose with the memory.  
"He did kill me, I was dead for a while- talked to Dumbledore even" Harry added "but eventually I came back, and did what I had to do. The rest you've already probably read about." Harry finished his statement lamely.

Everyone was looking at him, even Malfoy looked uncomfortably in his direction.

"Oh" was all Neville said as a response.

Harry didn't like all the eyes on him, so he turned to Ron  
"Truth or dare" he asked, and Ron, understanding the need for a topic change responded  
"Dare" 

And the game continued.

After Harry's shocking answer, no one really called on him for a while. But slowly the game progressively got more and more personal and Seamus Finnegan asked  
"Truth or Dare, Harry"

Harry, glancing nervously at Blaise (who had switched clothes with Pansy as a dare) said "truth" again.

Seamus clucked his tongue,  
"Not being very brave are you Harry"  
Harry gave him a slight shrug.  
"Quite frankly I don't trust anyone here to give me a dare"

Seamus nodded. Dean was holding Seamus's hand (they'd gotten together after the war), he'd starting massaging the back of it with his thumb. Seamus looked down at their intertwined hands and grinned evily.

"Harry" he said sounding too innocent "have you ever had any gay thoughts"

Harry felt relived, based on the grin Seamus was wearing, he'd expected a far more prying question. Harry was happy to say he was very Heterosexual, and opened his mouth to tell the group.  
But instead of a simple no, he felt the potion bubble in his stomach again and it spit out the word  
"Yes" 

Harry paused, confused.

He hadn't remembered having any gay thoughts, and he was sure as hell that he would've remembered if he did. But the potion had interfered. 

"What?"  
Harry said out loud, voicing his confusion.

If Harry had though his peers were looking at him weird when he talked about killing Voldemort, that was nothing compared to now.  
Mouths were hanging open, girls were giggling, and everyone had looks of minor shock or curiosity on their face.

Trying to backpedal, Harry frowned. "I think there's something wrong with the potion" he nodded towards the bottle in the center. 

"Or" Millicent said by his side, surprisingly sweetly, "you never realized." 

Harry frowned "I would've known, there's got to be something wrong with the potion"

This caused some slight murmurs among the group  
"I've never had ga-"  
Harry meant to finish his sentence but the potion burned his mouth and cut off his words.

Harry looked up, in alarm at Ron and Hermione.

Hermione was nodding, as if she had known all along, but Ron on the other hand looked as shocked as Harry.

Malfoy piped up then, (Harry had been ignoring him the entire game)  
"Well who is the bloke you've been fantasizing about, Potter" 

Harry didn't try to fight the potion anymore, he felt the familiar bubble in his stomach and the word vomit in the back of his throat.

The words "Cedric Diggory" rang out clear across the room.

"That makes sense" Hermione said.

Everyone turned to her, waiting for an explanation.

"How?" Harry asked, weakly. He was still coming to terms with the truth the potion had shown him.

"Well you were awfully infatuated with Cho Chang that year, and when you eventually kissed, all you described it as was 'wet'."

Everyone stared at her, not quite comprehending what she was saying.

She looked up at Harry gently "you weren't jealous of Cedric that year Harry. You were jealous of Cho."

Flashbacks of that year suddenly came to him, wanting to help Cedric with the dragon. How he felt after Cedric told him about the egg. The feeling he felt in his stomach watching Cho and Cedric dance at the Yule ball. And how heartbroken Harry had been when Cedric was killed.  
Harry had chalked all these things up to him liking Cho, or the stress of the tournament. But everything was starting to make sense now.

I looked up at Hermione, and she nodded sympathetic.

"Well, that was a surprising answer to say the least" Dean said, as he handed Harry the remainder of the bottle of firewhiskey. 

Harry took it, willingly.

The game continued.

It baffled Harry how everyone could just move on like that. He'd known the wizarding world was different than the muggle world, but this was just unbelievable. Yet it happened.

Harry sipped from the bottle, contemplating all the things he had just learned. He was ignoring the game entirely now.

Until someone said his name again.  
Harry sighed, he didnt want to play anymore. He had a headache and he wanted to puke and quite frankly he had much to think about. 

He looked up from the bottle ready to answer truth or dare, but what greeted him was a face, way too close to his for comfort.

"W-what" Harry sputtered confused.

It was Malfoy. His face was flushed from alcohol , and his lips were hanging open. His eyes were the color of a storm after winter, and they bore into Harry's green ones. 

Harry became even more confused when Malfoy closed the distance, and kissed Harry. 

His lips tasted like buttered popcorn, and Harry saw flashes of yellow behind his eyes (which he had closed).

The kiss was short. Three seconds to be precise.

"W-what?!" Harry stuttered again after Draco parted and slid back to his seat, looking rather grumpy. 

"Honestly Potter do you not pay attention to anything" Malfoy sneered, "It was a dare you twat."

Some of the confusion died away. That made sense, his classmates were rather sadistic after all. 

But what worried Harry was how much he had enjoyed the kiss. If he had any doubts about Cedric, they were gone now. 

Because Harry had just kissed Draco Malfoy, and he had liked it.

Unfortunately, the firewhiskey decided to make its appearance again, and Harry proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach on the floor right in front of Ron.

After the initial disgust, Ron patted his back and addressed the crowd  
"I'm taking Harry back to Gryffindor, g'night"

Everyone waved half heartedly as the two boys stumbled out the door. 

Neither of them discussed what had happened, neither of them said a word.

They just walked slowly, and tried to make as little noise as possible until they eventually made it to the Fat Lady.

"Password" she said in a voice so perky it worsened Harry's headache.

"Dragon Heartstring" Ron said automatically, and the painting swept open.

They walked up the stairs and Harry tried not to puke again, which was very hard because he was quite dizzy.

Harry then ceremoniously flopped down onto his bed, rather ungracefully and fell asleep almost at once.

...

 

Harry awoke the next day with no recollection of the previous night.

To be continued...


	2. The Objective of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a small little update that I wrote last night! Other chapters will be longer I promise, this one just needed to be short to progress the plot. Hope you enjoy! And please feel free to leave any advice or suggestions- I'm always open for new ideas.

There were several things Harry noticed when he woke up that morning.  
Firstly, his head felt like it was going to implode.  
Secondly, likewise his throat felt as if it were coated in shrapnel.  
And thirdly, he couldn't recall a single event from the previous night after his second cup of firewhiskey. 

He blinked blearily around and noticed he hadn't even closed the curtains of his four poster. 

"Man, I must've been wasted" Harry muttered outloud, clutching his head.

"You can say that again" Rons voice came from the other side of the room.

"What?" Harry was confused. Normally in this situation Ron would say something along the lines of 'oh you weren't that bad' or 'I was worse'. Something reassuring. 

"Mate you were so drunk, it was ridiculous" Ron came into view holding a thin vial containing a bubbling purple potion.

"Here, drink this" he said handing the potion to Harry "it's a hangover potion, it'll make you feel better."

Grabbing the vial immediately, Harry poured the liquid down his throat and grimaced at the taste, but he could already feel the potion take effect as the pounding in his head went away. 

"Where'd you get this?" Harry asked with a genuine curiosity. 

"Hermione brought it by earlier, said you might need it, and it looks like she was right." He said with a small smile.  
Then as an afterthought he added "she always is."

"Cheers to that" Harry said in agreement as he stood up to get ready for the day.

Harry grinned at Ron. 

Ron suddenly looked oddly concerned.  
"Harry" Ron said in a voice that was too sympathetic to be good  
"Are you ok, after everything that happened last night?"

Harry was bewildered "what do you mean?" He asked Ron, confused.

"Well, just with everything that happened during the game"  
Ron shrugged his shoulders, urging Harry to respond.

"What game?" Harry was completely baffled now.

"Wh- what do you mean?"  
Now it was Rons turn to look bewildered.

"Ron" Harry said with a laugh,  
"I don't remember a single thing from last night"

"What?" Ron asked, looking a lot more nervous than before. 

"I was so drunk, I don't remember anything" Harry reiterated.  
"Though, after everything I've gone through, I can't imagine anything that bad could've happened"  
Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"All I remember is getting to the party and drinking for a bit, and then it's all fuzzy. Did I do anything stupid?"  
Harry asked with an innocent curiosity.

"N-no not at all. You didn't do anything out of the ordinary."  
Ron stuttered quickly, glancing around the room.

"Well that's good to hear I suppose" said Harry "let's go to breakfast."

And so the two walked down the busy corridor heading to the great hall for breakfast that Saturday. 

Harry noticed some eighth years from the party whispering and staring at him, but as he was use to this behavior from the press, he chose to ignore it. 

Eventually they arrived at the Great Hall and Harry was greeted with the pang of a memory. A memory so repressed it came in faint flashes. 

A pale face with red eyes staring into his own.  
A flash of green light.

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. Eternally grateful for the potion Hermione had provided him, all signs of his hangover were gone by now.

He wouldn't let those memories haunt him. The war was over. He had won.

With this new mindset he happily sat next to Ron and hummed as he spread butter on a roll. Harry, being as unobservant as he was, didn't notice the silence surrounding him at the table till he was halfway done with his roll.

That was odd, Harry realized. Normally everyone at the gryffindor table was shouting over one another to be heard.

He looked at Ron, waiting for an explanation, but Ron just stared at him really hard. As if he had a secret he was dying to tell Harry.

"Out with it, then Ron" Harry said with a sigh leaning back in his chair and putting the butter knife down.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ron said with a feigned innocence, as he poked at a assuage on his plate with a fork.

"There's obviously something you're keeping from me. Spill" Harry commanded. 

Then an unpleasant thought hit him.

"Ron, does it have to do with anything I did last night- because you said I didn't do anything not considered normal."

Ron opened his mouth, and then closed it, and then opened it again. He looked like a fish gasping for air, and Harry would've thought the situation funny if it weren't for the growing unease in his stomach.

Luckily for Ron (and unluckily for Harry) Dean Thomas arrived at the table at that exact moment (15 minutes late like always).

He sat next to Seamus who had been wordlessly been alternating between starting at Harry and at the food on his plate. 

"Hey" Dean said with a grin addressing Ron and Harry.  
"How do you feel?"

"I felt like death this morning, but Hermione gave me a potion so I'm fine now" Harry replied nonchalantly, mentally reminding himself to interrogate Ron later and cursing Dean for interrupting. 

Then a thought struck Harry. If Ron wouldn't tell him, maybe Dean would.

"Hey Dean, about last night..." Harry started talking, but was interrupted almost at once.  
Dean looked at Harry with a sudden intensity "oh yeah, Harry" he said seriously " I meant to tell you, if you ever need anybody to talk to about..." he paused  
"...Stuff. I'm always hear to listen and give advice"

Harry looked at him, dumbfounded. Then he looked at Ron.

"What's going on?" Harry asked with a slight waver in his voice. He was growing more suspicious and upset by the minute. Something was seriously wrong here.

"I obviously did something last night, because this-" Harry gestured wildly around at the silent table, at the stares and whispers, at Dean (who was looking at Ron rather confused)  
"-Isn't normal"

Dean looked at Ron for an explanation.

Harry looked at Dean for an explanation.

And Ron just sort of looked like he wanted to puke. 

"Harry was so drunk last night he doesn't remember anything" Ron explained quietly to Dean.

Harry, suddenly feeling self couscous decided he needed to interject. To explain himself.  
"I remember some stuff. Like going to the party and drinking some." He said defensively "but after that my memory just sort of fades out."

Harry looked up suddenly.  
"So what happened, obviously it's something bad seeing as how you're all treating me like a bomb about to explode."

"Harry, mate" Dean said in a pained voice, "I don't think you want to know what happened."

"Well of course I bloody well do!" Harry replied annoyed "I asked, didn't I?"

Dean shared a worried glance with Ron.  
"Let me rephrase that" Ron piped up, " I don't think we should tell you."

Harry looked at Ron blankly, not comprehending what he said at first. 

"What do you mean?" He asked slowly. Ron was his best friend, he was supposed to tell him everything. The fact that he was keeping something important from Harry really hurt. 

"You have so much to deal with, and you'll find out soon enough on your own, Harry. If we tell you now you'll just overthink it and worry about it too much- like you do with everything" Ron said in such a sincere voice Harry almost believed him and dropped the subject. 

Almost.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harry cried in outrage at Ron, "I don't overthink things at all! And if I did something you should tell me, after all I'm the one it directly effects!" 

Ron looked like he wanted to dissappear.

"Ron" Dean said suddenly, "I have to go do some last minute- uh- divination homework, and I know you're great at coming up with shit- can you help me with it?"

Ron sprung up at that 

"Of course!" He answered at once in a fake happy tone.

Harry was about to protest their departure, but Ron was already across the hall before Harry had fully comprehended what had happened. 

Harry feeling more miserable than ever watched them walk away, whispering in hushed voices.

His stomach sank as he saw them talk to some of the other eighth years on the way out.

He just knew it had something to do with what he had done at the party- and he was determined to figure out what had happened. 

No matter what.


	3. The Game Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave suggestions down below, enjoy!

Harry finished the rest of his breakfast in silence, taking out his emotions by angrily spearing the eggs on his plate with his fork.

He tried to work out what had happened. It was only 7:30 in the morning and he already wanted the day to be over.

Looking down at his empty plate Harry tried to come up with a game plan. He needed to figure out what had happened somehow.  
He decided he'd start by asking all of his friends first. Surely one of them would tell him, right? Ron was just being a dick.

Making up his mind to find Hermione, he grabbed his bag from under his chair and left the table.

As he walked through the halls he came up with a list of everywhere Hermione could've been. The list was short. It mainly consisted of  
1) the Gryffindor dorms  
2) the library.

He hadn't seen her on his way to breakfast this morning, so he decided he'd check the library first.

...

The library was unearthly quiet. And yes, Harry knew libraries were supposed to be quiet, but this was extreme. Harry suspected there was probably a silencing charm enchanting the room. 

He roamed the shelves looking for Hermione. Very few people were in the library on a Saturday this early. He didn't see anybody in his year there, it was mainly third and fourth years looking at their mounds of homework in disdain. 

Harry had to give them credit, when he was their age he'd have waited until Sunday evening to do all that homework. Maybe that's why he wasn't in Ravenclaw...

Just when his thoughts were starting to get off topic, he saw her. She was standing in front of the Magical Runes bookshelves and frowning in concentration, her eyes skimming over all the titles in search for the right one.

Harry walked up to her side and she didn't even look his way.

"Er, hey Hermione" Harry said trying to sound causal 

She must've been fully immersed in her searching because she jumped a little, startled by Harry's introduction.

"H- Harry!" She said startled, after realizing it was just him she smiled,  
"I see that potion I got you is working" 

"Yep" Harry said politely.

Hermione nodded and turned back to the bookshelf.

"Hey, Hermione" 

She looked back at him again, clearly wanting to read, but listening to him nonetheless.

"I have a question." He said in a serious tone

Hermione looked a little startled at first but then smiled sweetly.

"Is it about last night?" She asked, her voice taking on a softer tone.

"Yeah..." Harry said and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, I'm no expert on anything, but I'd be happy to look things up for you, or give advice or find books or anything you need me to do!" She said enthusiastically. 

She started walking down the isle, heading to a new section of the library full of muggle books. 

Harry frowned. That didn't make sense.

"Ah, Hermione, wait" Harry called to her before she could leave the isle.

She stopped walking and turned back to look at him. 

"Yes?" She asked expectantly.

Harry walked down the isle quickly to catch up to her.

"Where are you going?" He inquired.

"I was going to find a book to help you." She said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like she was trying to be supportive.

"Oh..." Harry said, and then he had an idea. "What's the book called?"  
He hoped that the title of the book would give away what he'd admitted last night. 

"Hmmmm, I don't know" Hermione said absent mildly, obviously in thought. "I just figured we could find a book somewhere here for you."

Disappointed, Harry tried to be subtle one more time.  
"What would the book be about?" He asked innocently.

Any hopes that his sneakiness would work disappeared instantly when Hermione squinted suspiciously at him. He always underestimated how intelligent she was. She had definitely picked up that something was wrong. 

"What do you mean, wouldn't you know?" She asked Harry. He could practically see the gears working in her head.

"I'm just, you know, curious... about... stuff..." Harry answers lamely. 

"Just how drunk were you Harry?" Hermione interrogated him, still trying to figure out what was wrong. 

Hermione's eyes widened slightly.

Harry knew she figured it out and his stomach sank.

"You don't remember last night do you!" She exclaimed in triumph.

Harry looked around to see if anyone would shush them, but then he remembered the silencing spell.

"Alright. Alright." Harry admitted bashfully. "Yeah, I don't remember."

Hermione nodded understandably. "You were quite drunk."

"So can you tell me what happened?" He asked hopefully. 

"Why didn't you ask Ron this morning?" She inquired curiously.

Harry decided to be truthful, knowing Hermione would appreciate his honesty.

"I did, but he wouldn't tell me anything." 

Hermione looked thoughtful at this.

"I also asked Dean" he added as an afterthought.

"Hmmm." She hummed "I guess I can see why. It should be something you discover yourself."

With that Hermione turned on her heels and stalked away, leaving Harry forlorn and confused.

 

...

Ok, so Hermione wouldn't tell him either. That was just a minor setback, he'd find someone who would.

He tried to remember the faces of the partygoers he'd seen there before his memory disappeared.

All the slytherins were out. If they learned Harry couldn't remember anything they'd hold it over his head for the rest of his life. 

Seamus was out too, if Dean hadn't told Harry Seamus wouldn't either, the two boys practically had the same brain.

He'd already asked Ron and Hermione with no luck. 

Neville. 

Yes. 

Neville. 

That'd be perfect. Though Neville had grown a lot as a person over the last year he still had the same personality. 

He was still the happy-go-lucky friend who loved to help people. Neville would be the perfect person to ask.

And so Harry went on his search for Neville. 

As it was the weekend, Harry had all the time he needed to find Neville.

 

Taking his time he strolled along in the hallways, looking into classes to see if Neville was there. After giving up on that idea, Harry decided to check places Neville normally hung out at.  
First he checked Gryffindor.  
Then he checked the Great Hall.  
And the library.  
There weren't a lot of places Neville could be, Hogwarts wasn't nearly as big as he'd first thought it was. 

He walked down the hallway, grumpily trying to think of where Neville could be. He almost wished he was a Hufflepuff, Hufflepuffs were particularly good finders. Harry hadn't even had this much trouble when he was trying to find a solution to the second task in his fourth year! 

Gillyweed.  
GILLYWEED.

That was it! Neville had to be in the herbology greenhouse! 

So Harry picked up his pace and headed towards the schools entrance.

He heard whispers around him when he walked down the hall. But whispers always followed him so he ignored them.

He walked outside. The air hit his face with a mid October breeze, stinging the skin with little pricks.

It was a cloudy day, and the wind was so strong Harry felt like he would get knocked over. 

He rushed down to the greenhouse as fast as he could, trying to avoid the cold. 

He was starting to really regret not bringing a cloak when he finally made it to the door. He opened it and pulled himself into the room immediately sighing in relief as the wave of heat hit him.

Harry looked up and, like he'd hoped, saw Neville.  
He was taking down notes by what appeared to be a violet flower that was singing softly. Neville was completely absorbed in his work and didn't even notice when Harry entered. 

"Ahemm" Harry cleared his throats to get Neville attention.

He looked up, "Hey Harry!" He cried merrily from across the room.

"Shut the door, the cold will kill the plants!"  
He added in a more serious tone when Harry started walking towards him. 

Harry walked back and closed the door quickly behind him, not wanting to give Neville a reason to hate him.

"Hey Neville!" Harry said brightly, trying to radiate niceness. He figured the nicer he was to people, the more willing they'd be to tell him what happened. He was getting rather frustrated.

"Are you here to do some herbology?" Neville asked excitedly, "cuz I can help you if you want, it's my favourite subject" he gestured to the potted purple flower (who was now singing some generic song from the top 50)  
"This is a Cantanteous Vio-"

"That's great Neville" Harry said cutting him off, "but no, actually. I had a question."

"A question about herbology?" Neville asked. 

Harry laughed slightly, "no, no. Not about herbology."

Neville looked disappointed.  
Feeling bad, Harry added:  
"Maybe you could tell me about your singing flower after."

Neville perked up at this. "Deal."  
He smiled "I'm trying to teach her more songs but so far she only likes these terrible pop ones." Neville made a face and the flower sang louder as if to spite him.

Harry chucked "that sounds horrendous"

"It is" Neville said nodding vigorously "anyways, what was your question?"

"What happened at the party last night? I got so drunk I don't remember anything." Harry tried his best to sound nonchalant.

As soon as the words left Harry's mouth though, Neville's entire body language changed.

His smile fell instantly and he shrank back, turning away from Harry to look at his plant again.

"I- I can't tell you" Neville said in a pained voice.

"What do you mean you can't tell me!" Harry exploded, angrily.

Neville shrank back even further.

"Dean came by about an hour ago and told me I couldn't tell you. He said you needed to learn on your own, not from us. It's something you need to find out about yourself" 

Harry starred at Neville in shock at what he'd heard, his jaw open.

"Dean said he'd been telling all the eighth years not you tell you. He made me swear not to tell."

Neville continued, babbling nervously now. 

"He made all the people at the party you're friends with promise I guess. He even told Bulstrode and Zabini not to tell you..."

Harry became even more outraged with every word "he's telling the slytherins!" Harry practically roared.

Neville looked close to tears "he's telling people you're friends with, and you were acting very buddy-buddy with them at the party" he tried to explain.

But Harry had enough. He turned away and stormed out the door, not bothering to close it on his way out. 

He was so angry he ran back to the castle, not even noticing the cold. 

By the time he'd gotten back it was 3:00. 

Determined to get to people before Dean did, he went around to all the friends he'd seen at the party. He asked the Ravenclaws that had been present, he asked the Hufflepuffs that had been present, he asked the Gryffindors that had been present.

They all answered in the same way, telling him it was something he needed to figure out on his own.

Disgruntled, frustrated, and hungry from skipping dinner looking for people to interrogate, Harry went to bed early that night. 

He refused to talk to anybody as he changed into his pajamas.

"Come on mate, you're being ridiculous ..." Ron tried to talk to him, but Harry shut the curtains on his bed, cutting Ron off. 

If he ever wanted to find out what happened, he had a lot of planning to do.


	4. The Conflict of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So I realize this update is a tad bit shorter than normal, sorry about that. I wrote this at like 3:00am and it's mainly needed to set up the plot and conflict. Thanks for sticking with me. As always, feel free to comment any suggestions below, and enjoy!

Harry refused to get out of bed all of Sunday. 

Both Ron and Hermione tried to talk to him but he promptly ignored them.

If they wouldn't talk to him about the night of the party, he wouldn't talk to them at all. 

The only person he talked to that day, was Ginny.

She came to see him a little after noon. At first he was hesitant to open the curtains on his fourposter, he thought it might be Hermione trying to trick him. But she'd brought him a plate from lunch (turkey sandwiches and hard white rolls with jam) and he was too hungry to object. 

It was nice talking to Ginny. They'd started dating again after the war had ended. Harry loved her, he really did, but lately things were getting more and more distant between them. After school started they rarely even talked even though they saw each other almost daily.   
Harry was beginning to feel like for the first time in their relationship, it was more trouble than it was worth. 

But talking with her now, it almost made it worth it again. The conversation flowed so easily and so causally between the two of them while Harry ate. 

He grinned up at her   
"I've missed you." He said, really meaning it.

"What do you mean silly" Ginny said with a smile.  
"I'm right here. I've always been right here"

In response Harry reached up his head to give her a quick peck on the lips. Harry didn't think this was anything out of the ordinary, after all blokes normally kiss their girlfriends, but Ginny seemed to disagree. She turned her face quickly so Harry kissed her cheek. 

Confused, and a little hurt Harry looked at her, his eyes demanding an explanation.

"Harry..." Ginny said softly, twirling a strand of her bright red hair absentmindedly, "the reason I came up here, was to talk about... us"

"What's there to talk about?" Harry asked in a deadpanned voice, not liking where the conversation was headed. 

"Harry, im sure you've noticed how distant we've been these past few months..." she started 

"I'm totally willing to put more effort into our relationship if that's what you want Ginny" Harry said earnestly.

"Harry, babe, I'm not sure if what we have could even be called a relationship" Ginny said with a quiet and sad tone.

Harry went numb. He couldn't feel his fingertips. The only thing he could sense was a buzzing that was filling him whole and replacing everything in his body with an eerie hopelessness. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't believe it.  
Ginny was his whole world.

"You're- you're breaking up with me?" Harry hated how his voice sounded when he asked. It was weak and it cracked in the middle of the sentence.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I really truly am. But it's for the best." She looked like she wanted to cry just as much as he did.

Then Harry got mad. He got really mad. Ginny was supposed to be his happiness- he defeated Voldemort for fucks sake. She was supposed to be his happily ever after.   
"You're supposed to be mine!" He shouted   
"I'm supposed to be happy in my life after all the shit I went through, and Ginny you're my happiness!"

Ginny no longer looked like she wanted to cry after Harry yelled at her, in fact she was glaring daggers at him. Her emotions changed so fast it was kind of terrifying. 

"Harry, I am going to forgive you because I know you are under a lot of emotional stress right now, but under no circumstances am I ever 'yours', I am my own person and I don't belong to anyone. Do you understand?" She growled in a dangerously low voice.

Harry felt shame rise in him, he hadn't meant it like that. He stared at his palms and let the blushing on his face and ears tell her he was sorry. 

"And secondly, I don't think I am your happiness." She took on a softer tone now. She sounded completely sincere. 

"What do you mean Gin" Harry asked looking up at her. His voice was shaking and he sounded as heartbroken as he felt. 

He finally let the emotion show on his face and he felt tears stinging behind his eyes in a hot uncomfortable wave. 

She looked at him with sympathy in her eyes. She reached for his hand and patted the top of it comfortingly.   
"Harry, I can't tell you why right now. It's something you'll need to discover for yourself. But I talked to Ron and Hermione and they told me about they party."

Harry went numb again.

"Wait" he croaked out, "you're telling me, you're breaking up with me because of what I did at the party."

Ginny didn't answer him. She just looked at him sadly and kissed his cheek.

"Goodbye Harry, I hope you find your happiness. I really do."

With that she walked away and left Harry feeling more upset and more confused than ever. 

...

Harry was embarrassed to admit he cried after Ginny left. It was just all so unfair. No one would tell him what had happened at the party. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, because normally nothing important had happened. But based on everyone's reactions on Saturday morning, something HUGE must've happened.   
It caused him to fight with his best friends, it caused Ginny to break up with him, and Harry could've sworn the whispers in the halls were multiplying. 

So, not knowing what else to do to express his frustration he cried. He cried for a while. The gross embarrassing sobs that start in your chest and rake up your throat. 

Not soon after, his dorm mates arrived back from dinner. Harry ignored them again and decided to turn in for the night. He knew he was being a bit childish and passive aggressive by not talking to them, but at the moment Harry didn't care.

His best friends, no- the entire eighth year was keeping secrets from Harry ABOUT Harry. 

It was the first time in his life he hoped something would appear in the daily prophet about him. If it did, then Harry would actually be able to figure out what had happened. 

Harry assumed it was something scandalous, but he couldn't come up with any idea as to what it could be. Everyone mentioned "self discovery" and how "he needed to find out on his own". Quite frankly Harry thought this was bullshit and that they all just didn't want to tell him.

Harry felt a deep pang of betrayal eating away at his chest. He never thought Ron and Hermione would do something like this to him.   
In fact, he wasn't sure what he was more upset about, the betrayal or the breakup.   
He cried about both after all. 

The crying wore him out. He was dehydrated, had a headache, and his throat felt raw. Exhausted and lying in a pool of emotions Harry started to drift off in silence. 

When he was almost asleep though, he heard his dorm mates talking. 

"I think he's stopped crying" came Ron's low voice.

"I think you're right. He's probably fallen asleep" Neville agreed.

It was important to mention, that Harry was in that phase where he could hear everything around him, but he was too tired to care. His brain was meddled and foggy and he didn't want to use energy to open his mouth to talk. So he just listened in. 

"I almost feel bad about keeping it from him." Said a muffled voice that was obviously Seamus.

"Don't. He may hate us now, but he'll thank us later. Trust me." Dean quipped back, not sounding the least bit sorry.

"I suppose you're right. You'd be the one who knows what's best." Ron said quietly.

There were a few murmurs of agreement. After a while, a faint hush fell over the room, save for Neville's snoring- and Harry could tell they'd all fallen asleep.

Harry tried to think about the conversation, and what it could mean, but as he was only half couscous, nothing made sense.

Wearing out his half dead mind by thinking about it more just aggravated Harry. He just felt more and more tired the longer he thought about it, until eventually he fell into a deep sleep. 

The dream he has was weird. It was bits and flashes of a scene, the hint of memories. It reminded Harry of photographs, except instead of pictures captured in time, they were for other senses.

The feel of firewhiskey burning his throat.  
A cool minty swish in his mouth.   
long soft hair between his fingers as he braided it.  
Laughter.  
Followed by shocked silence.  
Flashes of the color yellow from behind closed eyelids. 

But what was the strongest memory of all, was the taste of buttered popcorn on his lips.   
...

Harry awoke with a start the next morning. Pulling his curtains back he realized he was in an empty dormitory, everyone must've been down at breakfast. 

Harry blearily looked at his alarm clock and saw he had 10 minutes until class started.

Harry discarded the weird dream from the night and focused solely on getting ready.   
He grabbed his bag from where he'd thrown it Friday afternoon. Harry realized, with dread, that after the emotional rollercoaster of a weekend he'd gone through, he'd forgotten to do all his homework. Shoving his feet into socks and shoes he decided he'd skip breakfast. Luckily his first class was defense against the dark arts and the teacher just sort of let Harry do whatever he wanted.

There's not much defense to learn against the dark arts when you've defeated the darkest arts the wizarding world had ever seen. Harry figured he could just do his homework during that class. 

Harry hated playing the "I defeated Voldemort card" but desperate times call for desperate measures, and Harry was damn well not going to let his grades slip. 

Harry went through his schedule of the day. DADA in the morning, followed immediately by Divination, then he had a lunch break and he ended the day with double potions. 

Overall it wasn't a very difficult day, but Harry already knew it was going to be long. Especially considering he wasn't on speaking terms with majority of his peers.

...

DADA went like it always did. Harry sat in the back of the class, doing what he wanted while the teacher tried to teach the class a spell Harry learned in third year. 

He managed to get all of his divination homework done in that class period. (Ironically enough seeing as Saturn and Venus appeared together in the sky, he'd get back stabbed by those closest to him). 

Harry threw in a few real predictions amongst the fakes, just in case his professor started to get wise. 

Apparently because of the shape of Neptune, "his life would change drastically" in the coming month. 

Because Uranus appeared to be dim "an unexpected bond would form"

And because of the position of the moon in the sky "he'd get torn away from the ones he loved"

Harry secretly thought they were all stupid. After all, almost nothing he'd ever predicted in divination had come true. 

...

 

Divination class was a bore. He read his monthly predictions for the class and was awarded 5 points. He ignored majority of the lesson and tried instead, to sneakily do his potions homework under his desk. His professor had him volunteer again at the end of class and after being told all the gruesome ways he would perish, he was finally free. 

...

Seeing as how Harry had skipped breakfast, he was starving. But he didn't want to deal with any of his 'friends' and he still had a ridiculous amount of potions homework. So he stopped by the kitchen and picked up a lunch from there.   
The house elves happily supplied him with a sack lunch full of grapes, roasted chicken, and carrot sticks.  
Harry debated about eating outside, but remembered how awful it was to just walk outside when he'd gone to the greenhouse. 

Eventually Harry decided to find an empty hall to eat and do his homework in. 

He munched on carrot sticks and carefully wrote down the exact procedure for how to brew a anti-aging potion.

Finishing just in the nick of time, Harry gathered his things together. He packed all his books back into his bag and made his way down to the dungeons.   
They were particularly dark and cold this time of year, and Harry started shivering as he walked down the steps. He heard a perpetual dripping noise somewhere to his left. He didn't know how the slytherins could stand it, being in the dungeons all the time. 

 

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Harry walked into the one class he utterly despised. Though since Slughorn had started teaching it, it had gotten better. 

Harry actually liked the concept of potions, that wasn't what bothered him. No. it bothered him because it was the only class he had with Draco Malfoy.


	5. Let's Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't get to update yesterday guys, my family started coming over for thanksgiving and I had to clean. Anywho, the story is finally getting somewhere in this chapter! As always, feel free to leave comments and suggestions, enjoy!

Harry frowned unhappily as he walked into the potions room. He didn't know where to sit. Normally he partnered up with Ron and they shared a table, but today he didn't even want to look at Ron. 

After some deliberation he chose to sit in a table near the back that always seemed to remain empty. 

As he was five minutes early, not many people had shown up. There were a few slytherins gathered in the front of the room, but Harry chose to ignore them in favor of double checking his homework. 

It was a good thing he doubled check it, because he noticed that he said to add the crushed mandrake roots before stirring the potion seven times clockwise. He was supposed to add the mandrakes after he stirred- right before the sliced moth wings. He scribbled quickly away on his paper, fixing his mistake. More people entered the room, but Harry payed no attention to them- he was too busy desperately trying to fix his homework before the start of class. 

Before he knew it, the class was full and Professor Slughorn was clearing his throat to get the classes attention.  
Harry hesitantly rolled up his parchment, knowing full well he hadn't corrected his mistake entirely.

'Oh well' he thought miserably, 'it's already been such a terrible week, this shouldn't surprise me.'

After having them all turn in the homework (Much to Harry's dismay) Slughorn normally wrote the page number to find the potion recipe on the board, but today he didn't. 

"Class" he addressed everybody in that nasally voice of his,  
"For the next month or so of potions classes I'll be having you do something a little different. Something a little more complicated."

The class stared at him in a polite silence, waiting for him to explain further. 

"In all of your potions classes so far at hogwarts you've made simple potions that can be brewed within the few hours of class, however you are all eighth years and the ministry thinks you deserve a little more of a challenge." 

He grinned a toothy grin at the students and proclaimed happily,

"You will be paired up with another student in the class randomly to brew our next potion. In an effort to promote interhouse unity, each Gryffindor will be paired with a Slytherin. I've written down the names of the griffindors on pieces of paper, and put them in a hat." He gestured to a large brown bowler hat on his desk.

"When called up, each Slytherin will draw a slip of paper and that is to be their partner for the potion. There will be no "trading" partners under any circumstances. After all, we're trying to promote patience and unity."

The class was still silent, but this time in a more shocked and dismayed silence. The horror was dawning on everyone's face as they realized the unfortunate situation they were about to be thrown into. Slytherins and Gryffindors alike both shot curious glances to the opposite side of the room. Both sides were dreading who they'd be partnered up with. 

Apparently unbothered by the sudden uncomfortable change in the atmosphere, Slughorn plowed on.

"The potion you will be making, is nothing other than the extremely powerful and dangerous Veritaserum."

"But sir," came Hermione's worried voice "that's such an advanced potion, and isn't it forbidden for professors to use on students?"

Slughorn laughed "you're very right Hermione, dear, the ministry has forbidden the use of it on students, so you will not be forced to drink the potion once it's complete. The ministry simply wished for me to teach you how to brew difficult potions. Now can anyone tell me how long Veritaserum must mature before it can be used?" 

Two hands raised in the air. One was Hermione's pushy hand that shot to the sky the moment the question was asked. The other was Draco Malfoy's slim pale hand, which was casually raised in the air, as if he couldn't care less about answering. 

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy" Slughorn called.

"A full lunar cycle." Malfoy's drawl filled the small class room. 

Harry hated Draco's voice. It was low and stupidly posh. Harry hated the way he enunciated every consonant with precision. He hated the way he drew his vowels out. 

"Very good, Mr. Malfoy" Slughorn said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, "Five points to Slytherin."

"As I said before, you will make this potion with a random partner, and as an incentive- I've turned this into a game, rather than a school project."

A few excited whispers broke out after these words, and Slughorn hushed them with a raised hand.

"The two students who produce the most accurate potion will receive not only an O for the semester, but a small vial of Felix Felicis, brewed to perfection by yours truly." 

More excited whispers broke out after this, everyone was thrilled to have a chance to win a bottle of the stuff. 

Harry remembered how useful his bottle had turned out to be. He really hoped he'd win another, but he also really didn't want to work with a Slytherin.

Well, maybe not. Zabini wasn't that bad, just a bit arrogant. And Millicent was nice enough to Harry, and she had soft hair. Even being partnered with Pansy wouldn't have been the end of the world, she was just a little controlling, that's all.

Maybe his prejudices were getting in the way. This wouldn't actually be THAT bad. Hopefully he'd get a nice Slytherin (if that wasn't an oxymoron!) 

While he was contemplating the pros and cons of the Slytherins in his potions class, the first Slytherin walked up to the front of the room to draw her partner, Millicent Bulstrode. She reached into the hat, looking completely bored, and pulled out a long thin piece of paper. Looking at it, she frowned and scrunched her nose. She read the name out loud to the class  
"Ron Weasley" she said with distaste.

Harry looked over at Ron, to see his reaction to the whole ordeal. He looked slightly like he was going to be sick to his stomach. 

The next Slytherin walked up to the front, Goyle, reached into the hat and drew a name. "Neville Longbottom" he barked out. 

Harry couldn't help but inwardly cringe at that pairing, they'd blow the room up before the end of the month. 

Greengrass walked up to the front of the room after Goyle, she pulled out "Seamus Finnegan" and walked back to her seat quietly. 

Draco Malfoy strutted up to the front of the room, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. Harry couldn't help but think he sort of looked like a stupid peacock, with the way he walked. Harry glared at him from across the room. Malfoy picked up a slip of paper with his elegant hands, and carefully unfolded it. As he read what was written on the paper, his carefree expression turned unhappy, bitter even. His previously carefree silver eyes turned dark and stormy. He looked at the class, drew a deep breath and muttered "Harry Potter" unhappily. 

Harry froze. Sure he knew there was a chance he'd have to get paired with Malfoy, but he figured it highly unlikely. Unfortunately fate loved the irony of it, and cast them together for the project. 

Harry watched Draco grumpily go back to his seat and pack up his bag, then walk straight to the desk Harry was at. He sat down into the wooden seat next to Harry, Looking positively livid. 

Harry looked straight forward, ignoring Malfoy and watching the remainder of the pairings. 

Nott drew Dean. 

Parkinson drew Hermione. 

Zabini drew Lavender. 

Everyone was looking at their partners with varying degrees of contempt. Slughorn, however, looked delighted.

"I'm so glad that you're all sorted!" He said with a chirp. He gestured to the blackboard behind him. Which he must've written on when Harry was fuming about his luck. 

"This is what you need to do for today's lesson- I advise staring now and copying down the potion recipe at the end of class."

Harry mustered enough courage to look at Malfoy, who was staring at his hands in his lap. 

"I can't believe we're on the same team" Harry muttered darkly. 

Malfoy looked at Harry as he said this, with a look of what Harry thought might be fear on his face.

"W-what?" He asked in his annoying voice.

"For the project" Harry explained, slightly confused by Malfoy's odd behavior.

"Oh. Yeah. That" Malfoy said with a shake of his head.  
"I'm going to get the ingredients we need, you sit here and try not to mess anything up."

"Twat" Harry muttered under his breath as soon as Malfoy was out of hearing range. Sighing, Harry got out all the technical equipment they'd need. Obviously they needed a cauldron and brass scales, but the recipe called for more stuff as well. Harry got out both a pewter and silver stirring rod. 

He was arranging everything on the desk when Malfoy came back. His arms were full of ingredients, some of which Harry had never even seen before in potions class. 

"Guess we're not getting off easily" Harry said, hoping that a light conversation would make working with Malfoy more tolerable. But Malfoy didn't respond, he just got that fearful look on his face again.

"On the project, I mean" Harry clarified, wondering why Malfoy was so freaked out at every little thing Harry said.

Harry looked at the board and mentally checked off to make sure Draco had gotten all the ingredients they need.

Crushed dragon scales, check.  
Phoenix tears, check.  
Pulverized bullfrog stomach, check.  
Burned mint leaves, check.  
Harry sorted the ingredients into piles while he checked them, it seemed Draco had gotten all but two.

"You missed some ingredients" Harry told him.

Draco sneered at him. "Whatever. What ingredients. I'll get them now." 

Harry consulted the list  
"We still need amethyst crystals and crushed Mistletoe." He read off.

Draco, for some unknown reason, stiffened at the last ingredient. 

Harry's gaze dropped from the board and back to the desk, ready to prepare the first step. He expected Draco to go get the last ingredients they needed right away, and was surprised when several moments later Draco was still standing there. Frustrated Harry turned to him.

For the third time within the past ten minutes Draco had that pained expression on his face. He looked flustered.

"What's wrong Malfoy, don't know what those look like" Harry jeered. 

Malfoy regained his composure and turned up his nose at Harry. 

"Listen Potter" he spat "I don't like this situation anymore than you do, but unfortunately we're stuck in it. So can we please get through the next month without you being an utter twat."

Harry looked at Draco for second, unsure of what he'd done to set him off that much. He'd insulted him yes, but Draco would've retaliated with another insult, not how he had responded. 

"Oh I'm being the twat, you're the one that's blowing everything I say out of proportion!" Harry shot back.

Harry noticed Draco had flinched at the words "blowing everything I say out of proportion" which confused him slightly. Harry had rarely seen Draco Malfoy flinch. 

"Just forget about the fucking party, Potter, that's over. We just need to get through this potions project and then we can stay the hell away from each other." Draco said as frustrated as Harry was feeling.

"T- the party?" Harry questioned him, hoping he'd elaborate. His frustration started to dim, in the hopes of finally knowing what had happened at the notorious party. 

Draco must've noticed Harry's suddenly change in tone, because his frustrated look turned to confusion.

"Yes the bloody party, thats what all this-," he gestured to Harry "-was about, wasn't it?" 

Harry looked at Malfoy, carefully trying to figure out how to get the party details out of him without letting him know he didn't remember anything. The last thing he needed was Draco Malfoy to hold that over his head. 

"Yeah..." Harry said slowly, "the party. Yup. That's exactly what this was about. The party. One hundred percent..." Harry realized he was babbling and shut up, watching Malfoy, waiting for a response.

"We were all drunk Potter" Draco said snottily as an explanation.

This wasn't going anywhere, Harry could tell. Then an unsettling realization dawned on Harry. If he was going to find out what happened, Draco Malfoy would be his only hope- after all no one would've told him not to tell, they weren't friends. So, gathering courage, (and hoping immensely) Harry took a breath and looked at Draco.

"Malfoy" Harry said hesitantly, could you do me a favor?" 

"No" Draco responded without missing a beat. "And stop trying to change the subject."

Harry closed his eyes. He couldn't believe it came down to this. He would be willingly giving Draco power over him. But if Harry ever wanted to know, this is what had to be done.

"It's not exactly, off topic you see, it's about the party." Harry said "I can't remember anything from it."

There was a beat of silence between them. 

"You're lying" Draco said not without malice.

"I wish I could say I wasn't" Harry responded, looking at the floor.

"Then what about all those comments you made. You even admitted they were about the party." Draco accused

Harry sighed. He didn't realize it would be this difficult to convince Draco he didn't know what happened.

"I was hoping you'd somehow tell me what happened if I said they were. In all honesty they were mere coincidences and I still don't know why you're upset about them." Harry said looking at the floor. 

Draco starred at Harry, a funny look on his face that he couldn't identify.

"So" Draco said talking slowly, as if he were still trying to comprehend what was going on.  
"You don't remember anything, and you want me to tell you?" 

"That's exactly it" Harry answered.

Draco grinned sadistically. "You told everyone you're in love with Cedric Diggory" He said in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh fuck off" Harry said, a little upset, "are you going to tell me what happened or not?" 

Draco starred at him, sizing him up the way a predator would size up their prey.

"I'll tell you what happened Potter" Draco said finally. Harry felt his hopes soar.

"-As soon as our potion is brewed, and until then you have to do everything I say." He grinned, a terrible grin, almost grotesque.

Harry's stomach sank. Off course. It's always like a Slytherin to have something in it for them. 

"It's a game you see," he said, his grey eyes twinkling with malice, "you do exactly as I say and I'll tell you what actually happened at the party."

Harry looked at Draco, long and hard for a few seconds before accepting his defeat. If this was the only way, so be it. 

"Fine" Harry said with a sigh. "I'm in."

"Great!" Said Draco grinning even further. "Let's play."


	6. Breaking the Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. As always feel free to leave comments or suggestions down below. Enjoy! 
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"First things first" Malfoy said giving Harry a pointed look, "you manage not to screw anything up in this project. If we don't win the Felix Felicis the deals off."

"T-that's not fair!" Harry sputtered out, "I can't very well control if we win- I can't control other groups potions!"

Harry was outraged. Of course he'd agreeed to do whatever Draco said, but he figured it would be plausible things.

"Yes, that's true." Draco said sounding rather displeased at Harry's lack of motivation, "but you can control how well our potion is made. As long as you don't make any mistakes and leave majority of it to me, I see no reason why any group here would beat us."

After making this statement, Draco looked around at the other groups, sneering with disdain. 

"Fine" Harry said rather bitterly. 

Following the introductions as carefully as he could, Harry started chopping the ingredients Draco had brought. He would've killed for the Half-Blood Prince's potions book at this moment in time.

...

Class that day was utterly unpleasant to put it nicely. Draco felt the need to yell at Harry every five minutes about what he was doing wrong, and Harry had to bite his tongue to not yell back at Draco. This month was going to be long, Harry could tell.

Plus he'd spent the entire two hour class chopping everything perfectly (and Draco made him start over if he didn't do it exactly how he wanted it) so now his fingers were sore and stiff. After such a long day, the only thing Harry wanted was to eat a nice big warm dinner, and take a bath so hot that it turned his skin red.

Harry sat in the Great Hall that night next to Ron and Hermione, like always. Unfortunately this was only because Draco had forced Harry to do the entire potions cleanup by himself, and as a result he was late to dinner. And of course the only people who had saved him a seat were Ron and Hermione.

Harry supposed they were trying to be nice, but it didn't even come close to making up for a fraction of what they were doing to Harry. For god sakes, he was practically Draco Malfoy's slave for the month because of them. 

That thought alone was enough to upset Harry's stomach. However when he took one look at his plate (Roast beef and cornbread with plum-sauce) the feeling faded away. 

Harry shoveled food into his mouth as fast as he could. Partly because he was starving, and partly because he wanted to get away from Ron and Hermione as soon as possible. It was also helpful because anytime either of them tried to start a conversation with him, his mouth was full so he had an excuse as to not respond.

However, this also meant that Harry looked like a savage with his cheeks full of food, and plum-sauce dripping down his chin when Draco Malfoy decided to saunter over to Harry's table. 

It was not unusual for other house members to talk during meals, in fact the teachers encouraged it for "interhouse unity". So no one payed him any attention, except for Harry, Ron, and Hermione who realized how odd this situation was

Draco sneered at Harry in disgust when he approached.   
"Learn some manners you pig." He insulted Harry. Not wanting to upset Malfoy and offset the deal, Harry swallowed the food (and the insults on the tip of his tongue), wiped his chin, and asked 

"What do you want Malfoy?" With a sigh.

Draco, unperturbed by Harry's obvious annoyance with him simply dropped a book and stack of papers next to Harry's plate.

"I know you're good at DADA, heaven knows how you are, because you are one of the most daft people here, but regardless- I need you to do my essay on charms against vampires for me."

Harry starred at Malfoy, trying to pour as much hatred into his eyes as he could. But he remained silent, not wanting to open his mouth in fear of what he'd say to Malfoy. 

"12 inches and it's due in two days- you'll give it to me at potions on wednessday." Draco replied, sounding cheerful at Harry's melancholy mood.

"Oh and potter," he added as an afterthought, "If I get below an O on the paper- the deal is off."

Harry, rather then get indignant and argue, accepted his defeat with a sigh, and placed the new homework in his bag. He let his head fall to the table in frustration.

"Great!" Draco said merrily and walked away.

Harry turned his head slightly so he could watch Draco leave. He even walked ridiculously posh- with a swish of his hips and a long powerful stride that was almost jogging, but less bouncy.

Dreading writing the paper as well as doing his own homework Harry sighed again loudly. He'd been doing a lot of sighing as of lately.   
Harry had about enough of Draco Malfoy that day. (Honestly, Harry had about enough of Draco Malfoy for a lifetime).

"What was that about" came a high voice from next to him. Startled, Harry looked up.  
He almost forgot his two friends were sitting next to him.   
"What was what about?" Harry asked, looking away from her, pushing things around on his plate with a fork.

"Draco Malfoy coming here and bullying you into doing his homework- and you accepting?!" Hermione sounded genuinely dumbfounded and upset. It's slightly amused Harry to see her this confused about it.

Then Harry got an idea.   
Maybe if he rubbed it in his friends faces that Draco was going to tell him, they'd tell him instead. Or maybe if he explained the situation he was in, they'd take pity and tell him so he could become liberated from Draco's rule. 

"If you must know," Harry said, slightly bratty, like a kid bragging about a new toy. "Draco has agreed to something none of my friends will do. He's going to tell me what happened at the party." Harry spat the word friends at her, like it was an insult. 

Harry waited a moment, then quickly added (in a rather defeated tone) "so long as I do whatever he says until our potion is brewed." 

He looked at Hermione, waiting for a response. But she just had a very funny look on her face.

"Harry..." she said in that motherly tone of hers "I'm not so sure that's a good idea..."

"And bloody well why not?" Harry asked her angrily, "he's the only person in the entire eighth year who's agreed to help me." And with that, Harry grabbed his bag from under his chair, grabbed a piece of cornbread for the road, and stormed out of the hall.

Harry, just wanting to escape the world for a bit, went up to Gryffindor tower to the bathrooms. He decided against a bath, he didn't have the time for one anymore because of the new homework he'd been given. So instead he opted for a shower with the heat turned almost on full blast

He stood under the shower for a while. He didn't know how long, and he didn't particularly care either- he'd lost track of time. He just stood there and let the highly pressurized hot water pound on his back soothingly. The shower also dispersed little bubbles of soap that smelled like lilacs, which was heavenly with the shower. The scent and the steam rose around Harry in a white and purple cloud. 

The warmth was so nice. It crept into Harry's bones and stayed there, warming him from the inside. 

Harry stayed in that shower so long that his fingers started pruning. In fact, the only reason he got out was because the water was starting to get cold.

Harry dressed quickly into his pajamas, and wrapped a fluffy red school towel around his shoulders and walked to his dorm room.

Not ready to confront the jerks he shared his current accommodations with, Harry peered in sneakily. He noticed they weren't there yet, and breathed a sigh of relief. 

He walked to his bed and sorted through his bag (he'd dropped it off and picked up pajamas before his shower) until he found what he wanted.

He got out Draco's homework assignment, crawled into his bed, and closed the curtains. 

He cast a quick silencing spell on the curtains so no one would disturb him, and then he got to work.

...

Harry awoke the next morning to a loud (and rather rude) "Hey Harry, wake up" from Ron. 

It became apparent his silencing spell dwindled through the night. 

It also became apparent that he fell asleep in the process of writing Draco's essay, because his neck was sore from falling back in an awkward position, and Harry's right hand was covered in ink smears from moving when he'd fallen asleep. 

"Shit" Harry whispered to himself silently, as he placed the half done essay aside so it wouldn't get crumpled.

Harry swung his curtains open quickly, and flinched as the bright light of the room hit him.

Ron was the only one still in the dorm, Harry must've slept in late. He was standing by the door looking rather uncomfortable. 

"Do you want me to wait for you?" He asked Harry, slightly hopeful. 

"No" Harry shot back with a glare.

The tips of Ron's ears and nose turned as red as his hair, and he nodded silently before turning away and walking out the door. 

Harry sighed again into the silence Ron left when he exited. Harry hated being mad at his friends. He normally wasn't, and this whole thing was kind of a new experience, he felt completely clueless.

Harry quickly got ready alone, and then headed to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. 

He almost forgot all of the frustration he'd be feeling as of lately, and started humming a quaint little tune as he walked down the empty halls. He was really late today. He was just getting in to the chorus of the song (which Harry realized with disgust was the same song Neville's flower had been singing) when he saw a sight he never ever thought he'd see. 

Draco Malfoy was backed into a corner looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. But, he was being backed into the corner by a very flustered and angry Hermione who kept pointing at him violently.

Harry stopped humming and walking. Intrigued by the odd scene before him, Harry slipped behind a wall out of sight, and listened.

"I would think you of all people wouldn't want him to know!" Hermione cried angrily at Draco. 

"Oh please Granger, grow up, we were all drunk" Draco's voice drawled.

"What good does this do you!" Hermione positively shrieked.

"What good does it do me?" Draco asked with a laugh, "I get Potter as my servant for a month, it's a dream come true" Harry could practically hear the smirk Draco was surely wearing.

"Please just don't tell him." Hermione pleaded, sounding like she knew it was a lost caused, "it's something he needs to figure out for himself.

"A deals a deal, Granger." Draco said, still sounding terribly wicked, "you can't break the rules." 

Harry was done listening in, he'd heard plenty. It was obvious Hermione was trying to stop Draco from telling Harry, so Harry had to interrupt.

He stepped out from behind the wall and tried his best to be casual. He walked up to the two (Hermione had a funny look on her face, but Draco looked unbothered by Harry).

"Malfoy, for your paper, are illegal spells supposed to be included too?" Harry asked in a voice that sounded exactly like he was hiding something. Oh well, Harry never had been a good actor. He could act about as well as he could hold alcohol. 

"Yes Potter" Draco snapped at him as he turned away, "any spells known in the wizarding world are fair game" 

With this, Draco turned on his heels and sped away. 

Hermione looked at Harry with a scrunched, calculating expression.

"Just what game are you playing at here Harry?" She asked.

"One that I'm not going to lose" Harry responded simply.


	7. "He Mentioned Something About a Game"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for taking a while to update. I was totally swamped because of the holidays. Anyways, if you ever have any questions about the story or want to ask when I'll update, feel free to ask me on my Tumblr: @aestheticsdan 
> 
> And as always, feel free to leave comments or suggestions down below, and enjoy! 
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Harry was right about one thing. The month in which he had to be Draco Malfoy's servant went by excruciatingly slow.  
It was a terrible month for Harry for several reasons.

Firstly, Ginny got a new boyfriend. He was some tossed in her year that made Harry want want to beat him up every time he opened his mouth. Oh well. At least Ginny seemed happy. Or at least, a lot happier than when she was with Harry.

secondly, he was still not on speaking terms with majority of his grade. It may seem childish and petty that he still was angry, but they were doing something Harry considered unforgivable. The information they were holding back from him impacted his life in a huge way- it caused his girlfriend to break up with him- and yet they wouldn't tell him anything. 

And thirdly, the whole Draco Malfoy situation.

Besides Draco dropping off ALL of his DADA homework almost everyday and making the potion for class, Draco Malfoy had Harry Potter do five things for him while in servitude. And, surprisingly they weren't that bad. 

The first request from Draco Malfoy came that Friday. It was about 8:00 o'clock at night and Harry was enjoying the silence of his room, working on homework, when he heard a knock on the door. 

Harry answered it quickly and was surprised to see a third year student waiting there. He recognized the kids face but not his name. It was something like Harold maybe? Regardless of his name, the kid looked at Harry with wide eyes. Most of the children at Hogwarts did. They looked at Harry like he hung the sun every morning. Like the whole world revolved around him. 

"There's someone at the door to the common room asking about you" the third year squeaked out. 

This confused Harry. Who would be asking for him? All of his "friends" were at another one of the interhouse unity parties, no doubt gossiping about him.

"Who?" Harry asked the small brown haired boy.

"Draco Malfoy" the kid responded seeming a little scared of the name.

Harry sighed. He had a feeling he knew exactly what this was about. Harry brought his hands up to his face and rubbed his temples. 

"Did he say what he wanted"

"I don't think so." Said maybe-Harold

Harry must've looked upset, because the kid helpfully added "But he mentioned something about a game!"

Harry nodded at the kid. He expected something like this to happen.

"Alright, well thanks" Harry said as he walked past the small boy and stalked off to the common room entrance. He stepped out of the doorway only to be immediately greeted with the sight of a very tall, very pale boy.

"Malfoy" Harry said impatiently "what do you want?" 

Draco looked at Harry like he'd look at something unpleasant he just stepped in.

"How rude of you Potter, I come all this way and you greet me so unkindly. No wonder your girlfriend broke up with you." Draco said with a snotty grin.

Harry rolled his eyes at Draco. "What do you want?" He asked again.

"If you must know. The room of requirement is malfunctioning and won't provide us any drinks." Draco stated. 

This didn't surprise Harry, the room would sometimes stop working ever since the fire had happened. 

"And everyone's thirsty so they sent me out for butterbeer."

"What, did Dean not bring any Firewhiskey this time?" Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

Draco ignored Harry and kept talking,

"And they refuse to let me back in the room unless I return with it." He finished rather unhappily.

Harry pondered this for a minute. "Why you?" He asked.

"I have a big suspicion it might have to do with our little game." Draco answered.

"Which is exactly why I'm here. I need to go down the Hogsmeade to get butterbeer, and quite frankly it's dark and I don't want to carry it- so that's where you come into play. I need you to come with me down there and carry the butterbeer for me."

Harry sighed and looked at Draco with dismay. All he wanted to do was go to bed...

"Fine" Harry said with a groan, "let me grab my cloak" 

Draco nodded his approval, and Harry left the door frame. Taking as much time as possible and procrastinate going outside, Harry went to his dorm and grabbed his warmest cloak, knowing full well how cold it would be. As an afterthought, he grabbed a pair of gloves too. 

Harry made his way back to Draco.

"Took you long enough" he spat rather rudely. 

Harry shrugged in response, and the pair headed off in silence on their way to hogsmeade. 

Draco and Harry managed to walk the entire way to Hogsmeade and purchase the butterbeer all while not uttering a single word to each other. 

Harry realized he made the right choice getting gloves, because Draco left Harry entirely on his own to carry the beverages. Because of this, Harry's hands would've been completely exposed to the unusual cold and harsh winds without his gloves. His gloves were nice, they were soft. A gift from Hagrid for his birthday, they were made of the hair of some magical creature Harry had never heard of.

They were on their way back to hogwarts when Harry couldn't handle the silence any longer and tried to make conversation.

"So..." Harry said unsure of how to create small talk "how's the party going?"

Draco stopped walking for a second. Harry quickly followed suit. Draco looked at Harry for a second, looked back at the road ahead of them and sighed. He started walking again, this time at a brisker pace, and Harry rushed to catch up.

"It's going fine I suppose. It's actually not a bad thing they sent me out to get the ButterBeer, they were telling sob stories about their lives- I can't deal with that much drama." Draco said with a roll of his eyes.

It was actually more than Harry thought Draco would say in answer, maybe he was going soft.

"Ugh, tell me about sob stories" Harry replied with a light tone "my entire life is one"

"I suppose" Draco quipped back. 

They walked in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Draco hesitantly said "actually, I don't know much about what you've faced. Besides the whole murdered parents and chosen one thing"

Harry laughed a little, a dark humorless laugh as he remembered everything in his life that had ever gone against him.

"It wasn't so bad after I turned 11" Harry said to Draco. "Then I got to come to hogwarts and I actually had hope in my life."

"What do you mean?" Draco inquired "didn't you have hope before hogwarts? Surely you knew where you were heading, besides you were famous, it couldn't have been that bad."

It was Harry's turn to stop walking, and Draco noticed it. He turned back and looked at Harry. Draco had a light expression on his face that slowly faded off when he saw the seriousness etched in Harry's features.

"It was" Harry said darkly and started walking again.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked again. This time his voice had a tone Harry had never heard before- the sharp constants and long vowels had a sympathetic sound, as if Draco actually cared. Harry was probably delusional from being tired. Or maybe his ears were playing tricks on him. Because there is no way Draco Malfoy could've ever been nice to Harry. And there is absolutely no way that Harry would've answered if he'd been sane. 

But Harry did answer.

And not only did he answer, he spilled his heart out. He told Draco Malfoy about everything the Dursleys had done to him when he was a kid. He told Draco Malfoy about not knowing he was a wizard, about the shock of it all. He told Draco Malfoy about how he one day found out he was famous, and how his life changed completely. 

Harry had no idea why he chose to spill out all of his secrets about his past to Draco Malfoy. 

Maybe it was because it had started snowing on the walk back, and the whole situation seemed surreal. Maybe it was because the softness in Draco's voice when he asked, mixed with the lightness in his eyes as they bore into Harry's made Harry delirious. Maybe it was because he'd been holding back these secrets for so long, he needed to tell someone, anyone, especially since the only other person who knew (Ron) was being a total jerk. 

Or maybe, Harry pondered, it was because he wanted to tell Draco Malfoy. It was as simple as that. No spells, no excuses, he just wanted to.

It was interesting to see Draco's reaction. Harry had been watching his face as he told the story. At first Draco looked a little startled by the sudden stream of information spouting out of Harry, but the more and more the story progressed, the more Draco's face changed. He looked disgusted when Harry told him about the Dursleys ideas of magic. He looked horrified when Harry explained the treatment he'd received as a kid. But most shockingly, he looked sad when Harry told Draco about never realizing that he was a wizard.

The story shocked both of them into silence for a while. Draco was processing what he had just heard. Harry was processing who he'd just told. 

"Wow" was all Draco managed to croak out. 

"Yeah" Harry said lamely in response.

They walked the rest of the way to the castle that way. Draco reevaluating every idea of Harry he'd ever had. And Harry still trying to figure out why he'd just spilled his heart out to his sworn enemy. 

The stopped by the Gryffindor commons on Draco's way to the Room Of Requirement. Harry handed Draco the drinks he had carried. 

"Goodnight Malfoy" Harry called over his shoulder as he crawled through the portrait hole.

"Call me Draco." He said in response. Harry almost tripped as he said that. It was so startling.

"W-what?" He peered at Malfoy, shocked.

"You have to do as I say. And I say call me Draco." Malfoy said and lifted his chin a little bit in defiance.

"O-ok" Harry said, still a little bit shaken.

"Goodnight Draco."


	8. The Game Progresses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points to whoever gets the Ouran reference in this chapter. Anyways, as always feel free to leave comments down below, and enjoy! 
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The second time Draco asked for Harry's help was at about 9 o'clock at night on a Wednesday. 

Harry was walking back to the common rooms from the library (he'd been working on a DADA report about pixies for Draco) when Harry saw him. Draco Malfoy was leaning against the wall next to the Fat Lady, arguing rather furiously with her. Harry knew what this would be about and sighed internally. As of lately, it seemed Harry's entire life centered around Draco Malfoy. 

Harry approached the arguing pair and loudly cleared his throat. 

He must've startled the fat lady because she jumped. Draco however, turned around slowly. He looked as calm and calculating as ever. 

"Never mind then." He said to the painting. She huffed in response.

"Draco" Harry asked slightly agitated, "what do you want?"

"Follow me." Draco instructed him and he picked up a bag on the floor that Harry hadn't noticed. 

"Tell me where we're going first Draco" Harry said firmly.

"I'll tell you when we get there. Now follow me." Draco shot back.

Harry however, didn't get a chance to argue anymore because Draco was already walking away. Harry had to hurry to keep up with him, his legs were much longer than Harry's and his strides were quick. 

After a multitude of corridors, turns, and staircases Harry had a slight idea where they were going, and it was confirmed when Draco stopped in front of a small door.

"Why are we at the room of requirement?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'll explain everything once I'm set up" Draco answered, and held the door open for Harry. 

Harry, a little hesitant at what he might find, walked through the door way. He was surprised at what greeted him. It just appeared to be a small room. Relatively empty with a cauldron in the middle already over a fire.

Draco walked in after Harry and closed the door. He walked to the cauldron in the center and sat down, Harry followed suit.

Harry looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

"I need your help making a potion." Draco said finally.

"Aren't we already making a potion?" Harry asked confused, thinking of the potions project they were doing together.

"It's a different potion you twat." Draco sneered back at him.

Harry took this information in.

"Aren't you the one always telling me how terrible I am at potions? Why would you need my help?" Harry asked, genuinely baffled about why he was needed.

Draco sighed. "I'm making dreamless sleep which can only be brewed at night." He explained to Harry, as if he were a child "I'll be the one making the potion, you're just here to keep me awake." 

This startled Harry. But it made sense, if Harry was pulling an allnighter making a potion he'd want someone there to make sure he didn't fall asleep, if something went wrong with potion while you were asleep... things could be bad. 

"Ok" Harry responded simply.

"I know you can get into the kitchens, so I need you to get some coffee first." Draco commanded, "and then I need you to just talk constantly through the night so I don't fall asleep."

Draco frowned. "This is going to be a long night." He sighed.

Slightly offended, Harry got up and walked to the door.

"what type of coffee do you want?" He asked Draco over his shoulder.

"Any kind is fine- I just need something to keep me awake." 

...

Harry walked down the empty halls. It wasn't passed cerfew yet, but it was damn well close and most student were probably in bed by now. So Harry cautiously made his way down to the kitchens and tickled the pair. 

He used to love going to the kitchens, but now... Seeing all the house elves working so happily made Harry's heart hurt. He remembered Dobby and everything Dobby had ever done for him. The war had taken so many people.

Trying to shove away his thoughts, Harry asked the nearest House elf for coffee, and was given an entire bag of assorted pastries to go with it.

Harry smiled and thanked the house elves profusely, and they bowed to him as he left.

Harry sorted through the bag given to him as he walked back to the room of requirement. He realized, as he placed a slice of coffee cake back in a napkin, he was humming again. It was the song that stupid purple flower had sang. Harry made a mental note to look it up. It was kind of growing on him.

Harry made it back to the Room of Requirement just as the chorus was coming to an end. 

He saw Draco had pushed his sleeves to his elbows and had taken off his tie. He was leaning over the bubbling cauldron and sweat was already starting to form on his temples. Harry noticed that his hair which was normally always perfect gelled back, was starting to fall around wildly. Harry liked it better like that. It framed his face well. 

He must've been staring, because Draco eventually acknowledged him and asked   
"What is it Potter?" In a rather annoyed voice.

"I like your hair like that." Harry said thoughtfully, and was surprised to see a faint blush appear on Draco's pale cheeks.

"Also if I have to call you Draco, you need to call me Harry" harry added suddenly, realizing Draco still called him by his Surname. 

Draco's cheeks turned even redder, but this time it amused Harry.

"Ok fine, Harry" he spit the word out like a swear, "did you get the coffee?"

Harry nodded and triumphantly pulled the small box of powdered instant coffee out of the bag.

"What is that?" Draco asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"what do you mean?" Asked Harry, "it's coffee."

Draco looked at Harry, his face was scrunched in bafflement.

"Isn't coffee supposed to be beans?" Draco asked, sarcasm was infiltrating the confusion in his voice now.

"It's instant." Harry explained and he set the bag down, pulling out the cups and thermostat of hot water the elves had also provided.

"Instant?" Draco asked, now with more curiosity than confusion.

"Yeah, instant." Harry said and looked over at Draco. "Are you telling me you've never had instant coffee before?"

Dracos eyes narrowed slightly.   
"Harry I don't even normally drink coffee, not when there's tea around, but on the few occasions I have, I can assure you I did not drink 'instant' coffee."

"It's simple really" Harry explained to Draco, pouring two cups of water. "You add the powder to hot water and stir."

Harry was used to instant coffee. Yes harry agreed with Malfoy about the superiority of tea, but tea didn't help you sober up after drinking. Harry's knowledge about coffee all derived from his inability to hold alcohol.

"Huh." Was all Draco said.

Harry carefully made the coffee while Draco kept stirring the potion. Draco reached up and wiped sweat off his forehead everyonce in a while, and Harry thought it was nice to see him sweating. It was the first time Harry had ever really seen Malfoy being "imperfect" when doing a normal task.

 

Harry had seen Malfoy cry, Harry had seen Malfoy bleed. Those memories weren't his favourites. He still remembered that awful curse he had cast on Draco. 

So, Harry had seen Draco at some of his worst times. But for some odd reason, Draco never seemed to sweat in quidditch games. It made Harry livid. Harry suspected that he spelled his sweat away during the games, but he'd never been able to prove it. So this had been the first time Harry saw Draco Malfoy sweat.

Harry went back to the cauldron where Draco was standing, and handed him a cup of the hastily made coffee.

Harry took his own cup and sat down across from Draco, sipping his drink slowly.

They remained like that in silence for a while. But it wasn't uncomfortable. Harry sat and let his fingers absorb the warmth of the cup, as he watched Draco sweat and stir the potion.

Harry was about halfway done with his cup before he started talking.

"Why do you need to make a dreamless sleep potion?" He asked Draco.

Draco (who had stopped stirring and was now sitting down resting) looked at Harry and swallowed. He looked away quickly after. 

Draco didn't answer, but Harry could guess why.

He'd been having them too. Nightmares. 

Harry had hoped they'd stop plaguing him after he killed Voldemort, but he still had them almost every night. He watched all the death and destruction that happened, without being able to do anything night after night.

Harry was use to them by now, but Draco had probably only started getting them once the war broke out. He still wasn't desensitized by them yet. 

Draco was now looking down into his cup of coffee and refusing to look Harry in the eyes.

Feeling brave, Harry said  
"Nightmares?" In a soft voice, trying to be comforting as possible.

Draco Malfoy sighed. He finally mustered the courage to look at Harry and nodded slowly, hesitantly, as if telling Harry this secret would make the room collapse.

Harry was startled to find himself looking at Draco's eyes for so long. Harry never really payed them much attention before. They were a lovely shade of grey, almost the exact same silver as the crest on Draco's robes. They were framed by thick blonde lashes, the kind that reminded Harry of the time Lavender Brown went on a rant about how guys have such pretty eyelashes and don't appreciate them. 

Harry swallowed and looked away, afraid of getting lost in those eyes.

"I have them too." Harry said 

Draco didn't respond.

"It helps to talk about them." Harry told Draco, "it makes them seem less real."

After about a minute of silence (Harry assumed Draco Malfoy was having an internal battle about whether or not to listen to Harry) Draco finally spoke.

"You can't tell anyone." He said in a shaky voice. 

"I won't" harry said. He was surprised to find he actually meant it. Seeing Draco Malfoy this vulnerable was doing something strange to Harry. 

Draco sighed one last time, and looked straight at Harry.

"It's that day. The battle of Hogwarts."  
He started out, getting a far away look in his eyes that Harry recognized too well. His friends told him he got that same look when he talked about the war. This caused Harry to marvel at how both he and Draco had been on different sides, but were still effected the same way.

"It always starts off like that. Everyone is fighting, and You Know Who is winning. I should be happy about this, but I never am. It's like I'm trapped behind a wall in the dream. I can see the whole battle but I can't do anything. I see death that's happening, of my classmates, of my family, of my friends. I see all this death on both sides and I can't do anything. And then, You Know Who comes back to the battle followed by your half-giant friend. He's carrying you and You Know Who is bragging about your death. And I keep waiting for you to get up, like you did in real life, but it never happens. And then it hits me- you're actually dead this time. You Know Who won. I can see the death eaters laughing, celebrating, but I'm stuck. I can't move. I can't do anything. The wall that kept me from helping has expanded and now covers me completely.   
Then You Know Who looks directly at me.

'Why aren't you happy Draco?' He asks in a purring voice. 

'Aren't you happy?'

And I try to move to say I am, to lie to him so he won't kill me or any more of my family. But my body is refusing to cooperate.

Then He laughs. And it's this horrible thing, it made me feel like I'd been drenched in ice water." 

Draco stoped talking for a second and swallowed. Trying to overcome the emotions brought on by recounting his dream. 

"Then he says   
'If you're not happy Draco, join them.' And he points this inhumanly long finger at the students who had been fighting, and they're all dead. They're all dead Harry."

By now, Draco Malfoy had a tear running down his face, and Harry had no idea what to do.

"He's pointing at everyone. He's pointing at you. At your dead body, the last hope for the wizarding world."

Draco takes a breath. 

"And he points his wand right at me, the Elder Wand, and all I can see is green light. And then as soon as it hits me I wake up."

Draco wiped away the tear on his face and watched Harry carefully. Waiting for his reaction. 

Harry didn't know how to react. Draco had just spilled his heart out to Harry. But seeing as Draco was looking at Harry desperately waiting for him to do something, he knew he had to do something. Anything. So Harry did the first thing he thought of. 

He awkwardly crawled over to where Draco Malfoy was and gave him a hug.

It was a weird experience for both of them. Harry was hugging his sworn enemy. Draco was hugging his parents nemesis. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the whole ordeal though, was that Draco Malfoy hugged Harry back. He wrapped his long arms around Harry's torso and clung to him like a child. He buried his face in Harry's shoulder until his breathing returned to normal.

Harry didn't know how long they sat like that. Together, hugging, listening to the bubbling potion next to them.

But eventually Draco let go. His jaw was set and his eyes had lost their shine.

"I have to stir the potion again now." He told Harry.

Harry scooted back to his original position on the other side of the cauldron and watched Draco stir. 

 

The stirring was very rhythmic and hypnotizing, and the potion was sending down smells of lavender and rosemary and the faintest smell of buttered popcorn. Harry soon found himself hushed to sleep by the potion and its aromas.

For some reason though, perhaps because Draco was there, perhaps because dreamless sleep was brewing, Harry didn't have nightmares when he slept that night.

 

...

Draco hadn't noticed Harry had fallen asleep until he finished the second rotation of stirring for the potion. He debated waking Potter up, after all- Harry was supposed to be there to keep him awake not the opposite way around, but he decided against it.

Harry just looked so peaceful while he slept.  
His hair fell on his face and moved to the pattern of his breathing. He looked so calm. So gentle, all the worries that were typically etched across his face had vanished. He looked adorable.

And so Draco let him sleep. Draco finished up the potion on his own, listening to the muffled pattern of Harry's breathing to keep him awake.

Draco recalled all he told Harry, about the nightmares. He also remembered what Harry had told him, about how he got nightmares too. Then Draco got an idea. 

...

 

Harry awoke the next morning in the room of requirement, alone. He assumed that Draco cleaned up his potion making equipment and left.

Harry noticed a bottle next to him with a note attached when he got up off the floor. 

Harry could tell it was a bottle of the dreamless sleep potion Draco had made- it was purple with flecks of yellow throughout.

He read the note,

"For your nightmares."

Was all it said.


	9. The Fun of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, three days without updating that's the longest I've gone yet! Hope y'all are still ok! Also I'd like to apologize for the shortness of the chapter, school has been insane. Regardless thanks for reading! Feel free to comment down below, and enjoy.

The third time Draco Malfoy required Harry's assistance was that Saturday, early in the morning.

Harry had been leaving the common room on his way to breakfast that day when he saw Malfoy, meticulously perched on the edge of a railing. The moment they made eye contact Draco jumped down.

"The game?" Harry sighed.

Draco grinned in response.

"Can I at least eat breakfast first, im starving." As if on cue, Harry's stomach made a pathetic growl.

Draco just grinned wider "No time, lets go."

"And where are we going this time?" Harry asked.

"Where do you think?" Draco threw back over his shoulder as he started walking away.

"Room of requirement?"

"Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner" Draco said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Harry huffed and folded his arms but followed Draco anyway through the various twists and turns of the castle.

By the time they arrived at the room Harry's stomach had growled three separate times, and Harry was quite bitter about it. He also was quite verbal about being bitter about it and plagued Draco with complaints the entire walk there. Draco in response just shrugged and smiled at him.

He was acting particularly coy today. And Harry had no idea why, until they actually entered the room. It was different from last time. This time the room was huge, at least the size of the Great Hall, and there were high windows on every wall, streaming a gloomy stained sunlight into the room.

But what caught Harry's attention was a small almost picnic laid out near the door.

"What's this about?" He asked Draco, his eyes hungrily scanning the variety of breakfast foods in a small basket.

"Well, I needed your help with something big..." Draco said rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "and I figured you'd be a lot more willing if I bribed you with food."

That was smart. So smart, in fact, that Harry was already sitting by the basket and pulling out several sasauge links to chew on.

"So what do you need me to do?" Harry asked, much more compliant now that he had food in his hands.

"I need you to teach me how to cast a Patronus." Draco said with such conviction it startled Harry and he dropped a sausage.

"Why do you need to learn a Patronus Charm?" Harry asked. Sure it was a useful spell, but only in certain situations.

"The ministries... er... regulations on my family include dementor guards on our estate at all times." Draco explained quietly, "I survived the summer there, but only barely, it was awful. And we're going home in a few weeks for winter holiday and I need to learn how to make it stop." 

Draco's voice was so quiet at the end that Harry could barley hear it.

"That may take a while" Harry said absentmindedly, already planning out the best way to teach Draco.

"That's why we're starting early." 

That was good enough for Harry. He nodded at Draco.

"Come have some food while I explain the technical parts." Harry gestured to the practical feast layed out before him on a green blanket.

Draco hesitantly sat down. After some coaxing from Harry, he grabbed a piece of toast and chewed along the edges very politely.

Harry on the other hand was practically shoving food in his face as he explained the basics of the charm to Malfoy.

"The most important part of conjuring a patronus is the memory," Harry explained, "you need to think of your happiest memory, something good and pure to help push the darkness away."

Draco looked thoughtful at this.

"And I suppose it doesn't have to be a memory, just a happy thought..." 

"What's yours?" Draco asked quietly, clutching his toast like a safety blanket.

"My parents." Harry grinned at the thought, "just the idea of my parents."

They sat in silence after that, eating the food. That was something Harry had noticed about the two of them, quite often they sat in silence with each other. It wasn't uncomfortable silence by all means, in fact Harry liked it. He never got silence in the Gryffinor dorms, so the silence with Draco was refreshing. In a way, it was comforting. 

Sitting in silence, however, did not exclude eating. After Harry managed to devour every breakfast food Malfoy had packed ("I can't believe you actually ate all of that Harry, it could've fed a family of five" "what, I was hungry.") they moved on to the wand movements.

"I'm assuming you know the words to the spell" Harry said.

"Expecto Patronum." Draco said in response.

"Great, now you're going to need to say it with force, all while correctly swishing your wand and thinking of your happy memory."

They stood up and moved to the center of the large room to start practicing. Draco tried the wand swish a few times but couldn't seem to get the hang of it before Harry stepped in and intervened.

Harry stood behind Draco pressing his stomach against Draco's back, and carefully put his arm on Draco's extended one.

"Like this" Harry said as he drug Draco's arm through the correct motions in the air.

"I- uh. Thanks" Draco said rather uneloquently , a faint pink appearing on the top of his ears.

Draco cast the spell again, repeating the wand movements exactly as Harry had shown him. 

Harry sat back and watched in satisfaction as Draco's wand produced a thin silver stream. It wasn't quite a patronus, but it was better than anything they'd got so far.

"Amazing Draco!" Harry shouted, excited by the improvement he was showing.

"You have the techniques down. Now it's all about the memory and passion you put in the spell. That may take a while to master."

Draco got a determined look on his face and Harry smiled. Slytherin ambition wouldn't fail Draco today.

...

Draco was a quick learner and a powerful wizard, and all of this showed at the end of the day.

It had been long and sometimes stressful working this long with Draco, it'd been about 14 hours (with occasional stops to raid the kitchen for lunch, dinner, and a snack for Harry in between). But it was all worth it when finally, Draco cast a successful patronus.

Harry was exhausted when it had happened and pretty much had lost all hope. Draco didn't look much better off than Harry. His tie was in some dusty corner, his shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his cheeks were flushed with effort. His hair had long ago started falling in his face, and was the messiest Harry had ever seen it.

But all the exhaustion, all the unease in Draco's face dissapeared instantly, replaced by awe and wonder as a bright silver animal appeared at the end of his wand.

It was a lemming. How fitting.

The patronus didn't last long, only a few seconds of prancing around the room before the animal faded.

Draco turned to Harry, and Harry grinned at him.

"You did it" he said simply.

Draco barked out a laugh in response "please say I'm imagining things and that my patronus isn't a weasel." He said in an annoyed voice that Harry could tell he was faking. No matter how hard he tried in that moment Draco couldn't hide the elation he was feeling.

"Of course not, are you blind. That was a lemming!"

"Aren't those in like the same family as weasels though?" Draco asked thoughtfully.

"They're both rodents yes." Harry answered automatically.

Draco hummed in response.

"You rat." Harry said to Draco with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey!" Draco huffed with a laugh and shoved Harry slightly, in a joking manner.

Harry grinned madly at him in response. "Sorry couldn't help it."

"I wonder why it's a lemming?" Draco said, talking to himself, not Harry.

Harry however, answered him anyway "I'd say it has something to do with the weasel-rodent thing you've got going on."

Draco looked at him, entirely unimpressed.

"But I think it could also have something to do with the lemmings jumping off of cliffs. Following others blindly to their deaths."  
Harry offered.

Draco starred at Harry, the previous elation was now replaced with shock.

"You're right." Was all Draco said.

Harry nodded. "Well, I don't think you need my help anymore, keep doing whatever you did then and you should be able to get it to stay longer and longer."

Harry made his way to the door.

"And Draco?" He called over his shoulder.

Draco looked up, expectantly 

"You know where to find me if you need me."

...

Draco Malfoy had a goal. And that goal was to make his patronus last as long as he wanted. So even after Harry had left, Draco kept working for hours, perfecting his wand strokes, perfecting his enunciation, perfecting his happy thought.

In the end Draco managed to successfully make a patronus last. It was his most powerful patronus too, the lemming was as bright as the moon as it danced around the room.

Draco's stomach dropped slightly when he realized how powerful of a patronus he had created. 

You see, the only thing Draco Malfoy had changed that time was his happy thought.

He thought of something else, a memory.

A memory that involved Potter's lips, firewhiskey, and the taste of buttered popcorn.


	10. Draco Malfoy Wins Everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while since I last updated! Sorry about that, I had writers block of sorts and I was sick last week... but regardless, here's the newest chapter! As always, feel free to leave comments down below (they make me smile)! Thanks for reading, and enjoy.

The fourth thing Draco Malfoy asked Harry to do happened on a Thursday afternoon.

Harry was in the library answering the questions on a DADA test review for Draco, when Malfoy came sauntering up to his table, and sat down like he owned the place. 

Harry looked up slightly agitated.

"I'm literally doing your homework right now Malfoy, what else do you want?" Harry asked rather grumpily.

"Draco" Malfoy corrected him.

Harry sighed, and leaned back in his chair, accepting defeat. He already knew what this was about.

"Is this about the game, because it's not a good time, I still need to write out all the spells against pixie attacks-"

"Sounds to me like a perfect time for a study break then" Draco said. Oddly enough though, he was smiling. It was something that Harry would call a grin, but not the grin Draco normally wore. This grin was nothing like the Slytherin, sneering, look of disgust. It was a happy grin, full of teeth and joy. It made Draco look years younger, almost like a child. His grey eyes were also shining and looked more alive than they had in the past 7 years he'd known Draco.

The look plastered across Malfoy's face warmed Harry's heart slightly, and he felt the overwhelming desire to do whatever he asked. Though, Harry would've never admired any of that outloud...

"Is it the game?" Harry asked in a voice (that he hoped sounded exasperated).

"Yup." 

"Do you want to fail your homework?" Harry asked gesturing to the book.

"That can wait, I want you to follow me."

"What do you need me to do Draco?"

Draco tried to suppress his grin, but did a poor job off it. He was practically shaking with excitement. Harry had NEVER in his life seen Draco act like this, and to be honest he found it kinda hilarious. In an adorable way.

"Well, I sent Madam Hooch an owl a few weeks ago requesting time on the quidditch pitch to fly around, since as you know eighth years can't play on house teams..."

Harry was well aware of their inability to play on the teams, he found out at the arrival feast from Ron, much to his dismay.

"Well she agreed to let me fly out there tonight because Gryffindor canceled their practice!"

Harry blinked at Draco, he was confused what this had to do with him.

"So?"

"I want to play a seekers game." Draco said with certainty, some of his childlike excitement fading.

"And after me you're the second best seeker in the school, so you'd be the least boring to play a seekers game with." 

On second thought, maybe Draco's grin had a slight hint of malice to it. 

Harry stared hesitantly at the closed book in front of him.

"We'll only play 3 games- best 2/3 wins" Draco said.

"Oh you're making this into a game too?" Harry laughed.

"Everything is a game Harry, the sooner you learn that, the easier it is to play." 

"I suppose I can finish your homework at breakfast tomorrow..."

"Great let's go."

And once again Draco Malfoy turned on his heels and walked away without waiting for Harry. That was an obnoxious habit of his. 

Harry, feeling slightly spiteful about the comment Draco made about Harry being "second best" took as long as he could go pack his bag, go to his dorm, get his old quidditch supplies, and walk to the field. 

His Firebolt felt warm in his hands, contrasting beautifully with the icy wind from outside. Though, Harry didn't care about the cold. The excitement bubbling in his stomach kept him warm enough (as well as a cloak, and gloves, and a hat, and extra socks, and a warming spell for good measure. Harry really hated the cold). It had been ages since he'd last ridden his broom and he missed it dearly. 

When he arrived at the pitch Draco was already in the air. Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off, savoring every minute of flying. He loved the feeling of flying. Feeling the wind hit his face as he rose, the feeling in his stomach when he realized how high up he was, the feeling of his feet dangling below him. A laugh burbled out, he was in his element.

He flew over to where Draco was hovering. Draco was grinning again, and Harry just knew somehow that Draco was feeling exactly what Harry was; The passion of flying. Draco held a small golden ball that was in his palm to Harry. His breath caught when he saw it. It's tiny wings fluttered, and the sun (which was out, despite the cold) gleamed off of it magnificently. 

"Let's play" Harry said excitedly. He already knew the rules of a seekers game, two seekers go against each other to see who can get the snitch first. No quaffles, no bludgers, nothing but the seekers and the snitch. 

Harry reached for the snitch clutched in Draco's outstretched hand, but Draco swiped it back before he could. 

"Ah, ah, ah Harry" Draco chastised. "In every game there's always an incentive and we need to sort those out before we play."

Harry sighed. He should've expected this from a Slytherin.

...

Draco Malfoy felt butterflies every time he looked at Harry. After realizing what was happening, Draco swore a lot, and cursed a lot of things, and may or may not have smashed a century old lamp in the Slytherin common rooms. But eventually, he accepted it. He had a crush on Harry Potter. Draco had never really been one to judge genders when finding people attractive, so the fact that he liked a bloke didn't bother him, it was the fact that that bloke was Harry Potter that upset him. But then Draco decided, fuck it, he would do as he wanted. 

His entire life he'd always been following orders, and had no choice. Draco expected much of his future to be chosen for him as well, and so this year at Hogwarts was Draco's one year to make his own decisions. With Harry under his thumb, Draco decided to just find excuses to spend time with him, and enjoy the feeling that seeing Harry created in him. So of course when Draco mentioned incentives he knew what he wanted. He wanted to open his mouth and say 'if I win you have to kiss me'. But, knowing Potter, that would result in a punch to the face and probably public humiliation and rumors. So instead he said:   
"You have to be in my servitude for another month if I win."

Harry's jaw dropped to the point where he looked like a cartoon, and Draco smiled at the response, it was just so cute. 

"You'll catch flies like that." He sneered at Harry.

Harry wiped the shocked expression off his face and narrowed his eyes,   
"If I win you have to make the rest of the Potions project on your own, and give me credit- especially if we win." Harry said 

Draco laughed inwardly. It was such a stupid thing to ask for. Draco was already pretty much doing all the work, and Harry could've asked for anything. He could've asked to call off the 'game' he and Draco were playing. How ridiculously Gryffindor of him to not even consider that. 

Draco's innocent smile gave-way for a more playful smirk. He opened his hand and the snitch whizzed passed Harry's ear, blowing some hair on its way.

"Let's play"

 

...

After Harry heard the words come out of Draco's mouth he turned on his broom and flew as fast as he could the other direction. His strategy was to follow the snitch immediately after it was let go, so he wouldn't loose time trying to find it, and his strategy payed off too, because while Draco was still trying to figure out what direction the snitch went, Harry was already shooting like a bullet towards it. By the time Draco had even started chasing it, Harry was sitting happily on his broom clutching the struggling ball tightly. He held it up for Draco to see as he flew towards him. 

"I won" 

"Fuck off"

...

Harry's strategy to follow the snitch failed him the next round however, because once Harry released the snitch, Draco flew directly towards Harry, causing him to panic slightly and drop a few feet in the air.

Harry was confused by what Draco was doing, until he heard Draco cackle and fly off, and Harry realized he had figured out his strategy and messed it up. Harry clenched his jaw, and squinted his eyes peering through the sunshine, trying to find where the snitch had gone. He kept Draco in his sight at all times though, in case he spotted it first. 

Harry couldn't see anything small and golden in his general area, so he started to fly slow laps around the pitch, looking for any sign of the snitch. 

Harry was just about to do his third lap when Draco Malfoy shot suddenly to the far left end of the field, near the goal hoops. Harry turned his broom quickly and followed Malfoy, grateful that he wasn't terribly far away. 

Maybe it was pure luck, maybe it was Harry's ability to fly, maybe it was his broom, but by some miracle, Harry caught the snitch. 

Harry caught up with Malfoy after a few seconds of determined flying. After that, they'd been neck and neck until Harry lunged forward, grabbing the snitch and almost flipping his broom over in the process.

Draco stopped, looking rather disgruntled. 

"Won again." Harry said with a fiendish grin blossoming across his face,  
"And that's 2/3, no more potion making for me, thank you very much."

Harry was amused to see how much Draco was fuming.

"It's only because your broom is a firebolt" Draco shot at Harry like an upset toddler, pouting. But in an instant Draco's eyes brightens maliciously and the pout turned into a wicked grin,

"I'll prove it, let me use your broom for the last round." 

Harry felt his stomach plummet. The idea of anyone else touching his broom made him feel uncomfortable and slightly queasy. His broom was like his child. Harry looked at Malfoy really hard, trying to look past the wicked expression. He thought about all the times they'd spent together recently. He saw happiness in his grey eyes, and laughter dancing on his lips. So Harry made up his mind.

"No." he said with a smirk to match Draco's.

Draco's smile faltered a little bit, but he shrugged it off.   
"Ah, well. I suppose it'd be unfair if I used it anyway, my skill with that speed. You'd be decimated."

That was good enough for Harry. 

"Alright you can use it!" He said with a beam, his plan was simple, Draco had the ability to force Harry to let him use his broom because of the game. Harry told Draco no, and decided that if Draco was cool about it, he could use it. If he wasn't... well Harry would've dealt with that. It was a character test of sorts, to see if he could trust him this game with his broom. It was kind of worth it too, to see Draco's face light up.

So they flew down to the ground and swapped brooms. Harry held Malfoy's big shiny broomstick in his hands. It felt like a fire in his palms. Harry excepted it to feel foreign or alien, but it didn't. It felt oddly perfect, not as much so as his firebolt, but comfortable nonetheless. 

Harry admired it for a second, it was a rather nice broom. It was painted black and pristinely polished. The handle was long and narrow and the twigs were perfectly clipped. Swirls of green and silver danced along the side of the broom in flaming swirls. Harry thought it was stupid that slytherin team made it a requirement to have the broom painted with their colors, but looking at it now, it almost hypnotized Harry. He suddenly felt slightly self conscious about his slightly battered, well-loved broom. 

Harry looked up and saw Draco preparing to fly. He had a look of determination on his face as he straddled the firebolt, his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Harry smiled as he watched him push off and soar into the air like a bird. Draco was a talented flyer, not as talented as Harry, but close. He could make it professionally.

Harry swung his leg over the broomstick and pushed off in one swift motion, following a few feet behind Draco. This broomstick was noticeably harder to steer and slightly slower. Harry could tell it would drive him mad, but he kept his complaints to himself, especially after seeing the look of wonder on Draco's face as he flew around in Harry's broom. It was like watching a child open a present on Christmas morning, and looking at him gave Harry an odd feeling in his stomach. Almost like butterflies? And the taste of something on his lips, butter maybe? Popcorn?   
Harry shook his head and pushed these thoughts aside, he flew over to catch up with Draco.

Draco was smiling widely at Harry,  
"This broom is awesome!" He shouted.

Harry laughed,   
"I know!"

Harry raised his hand above his head and opened up his fingers, releasing the snitch.  
It flew straight above them, and before Harry could blink Draco was speeding towards it, and Harry could hear a trail of laughter left behind.

Needless to say, Draco Malfoy won that round. 

It was odd, Draco Malfoy lost the seekers game, but in a way it seemed like he'd won. He'd obviously had fun, and he seemed completely satisfied afterwords. His attitude was something Harry had never seen before on him. And he still walked back to the castle like he'd won, head held high, shoulders back, and chest raised.

Typical.

Draco Malfoy wins everything.


	11. A New Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Sorry for the slow updates, I've been studying for finals! But anyways, I do have a few notes- if you read it before I changed it you may notice I said Draco asked for six things, but for sake of the plot I've changed that to FIVE things. Draco Malfoy only had Harry do FIVE things now.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's definitely a Turning point! Who's ready for the ANGST???  
> ...
> 
> Anyways! As always, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment down below! Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> ...

The fifth and final thing Draco asked Harry to do was to never talk to him again. 

...

The day had started out well enough considering it was a gloomy Monday.  
Breakfast that day was Harry's favourite (cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs with mushrooms), and it was the day everyone's Veritaserum was due. Harry was a little bit nervous, after all Draco Malfoy would only tell him what happened at the party if they won, but he was confident in Draco's abilities. Harry was mostly nervous about learning what had happened. Just thinking about it gave Harry an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. It was very unlike the feeling in his stomach when he saw Draco. When he saw Draco he felt nice, this however was very much so not. 

The "butterflies" in his stomach when he saw Draco were an interesting development that Harry had started noticing after their quidditch game. It confused him slightly and Harry honestly couldn't say what they meant, so he just ignored them. 

Another odd thing Harry had noticed was how much nicer Draco had started looking. Harry never really payed much attention to his appearance before, except to scoff at the ridiculous posh-ness that practically radiated off of Malfoy. But now, he looked different. Maybe it was the war? Harry had no idea, all he knew was that Draco suddenly looked a lot happier, a lot brighter. The blonde hair on his head seemed shinier. His pale skin seemed smoother. His grey eyes seemed deeper. He was just overall a lot better looking and Harry couldn't quite place what had happened.

In fact, that day at the start of potions class Harry couldn't stop staring at Draco. They were finishing up the last minute details of the potion. Harry was adding lacewig wings one a time while Draco stirred clockwise. Harry noted the satisfaction in Draco's face as every time he added a wing, the potion turned clearer and clearer until finally it looked like water. 

Draco smiled down at the potion and then looked up to meet Harry's eyes.

"We're done!" He grinned a childish excited smile, with his tongue slightly poking through his (perfect) teeth.

Harry smiled back, overjoyed that finally he had (at least helped) make a potion that turned out perfect. Harry sat back in his chair and watched Draco clean up the station around them. Marveling at the way the torches that lit the classroom flickered in his silver eyes.

Harry watched Draco walk away to put their excess materials back in the supply closet, and couldn't help but notice how adorably "Draco" his walk was. Long strides and a slight sway of the hips. Harry remembered he used to hate that walk, he used to think it was snobby, but looking back Harry didn't understand why anymore. It was an utterly endearing quality about Draco. Harry had been surprised to discover all of these habits of Draco that had previously annoyed him now made him smile.

After putting away the supplies Draco returned with a large glass vial and stopper roughly about the size of a small water bottle. He carefully filled the container with the clear potion, and stoppered it, promptly setting the vial down (as not to drop or break it). 

Harry saw Draco look around the room once, observing everyone else's progress. While many groups were already done, all of their vials contained potions tinted slightly yellow (from the golden leafs used in the potion) none were quite like the pristine crystal clear liquid before Harry. Draco must've noticed this as well, because he nodded in satisfaction and turned to Harry, giving him a reassuring smile. 

Then, Draco did something odd. He leaned towards Harry. Really closely. Harry's heart started pounding in his chest (for some odd reason?) as he waited to see what Draco was doing. It almost looked like he was going to kiss Harry, which just the thought of was preposterous enough to make Harry laugh.

But right before their faces would've met, Draco leaned slightly and set his head to rest on Harry's left shoulder. Harry stiffened slightly at the unusual contact, but relaxed soon after when he realized how perfect it felt, almost like they were two pieces of a puzzle, fit together. 

"Were gonna win" Draco said softly in Harry's ear. 

"Hmmm?" Harry hummed back. He hadn't heard Draco since he was laughing slightly to himself that his classmates were so engrossed in their own work, that they hadn't found the position Harry and Draco were in odd, especially considering they were enemies. Or, used to be enemies, for that matter. Harry wouldn't consider Draco Malfoy anything less than a friend now. And even that label felt weird, Harry really couldn't place what Draco was to him. Not an enemy, no. But not a friend either, that didn't feel like it was enough. Harry had shared so much with Draco this past month, and Draco had shared so much with him. 

It didn't matter, Harry decided, whatever he was, was making Harry happier than he'd been in months and that was good enough.

"Class" Slughorn called at the front of the room.

Draco picked his head off of Harry's shoulder to pay attention. Harry almost felt like protesting, as it was a rather comfortable position- and he felt slightly empty without the closeness of draco.

"I will now be collecting your potions- please set them on your table and clearly label your names on the vials. I will be judging the potions for the rest of class- and the prize will be assigned before the end of the hour."

And excited buzz rang through the classroom as everyone displayed their potions on their desks. Slughorn walked around slowly, commenting on each vial before placing it in a box he was carrying and moving along. 

When he stopped in front of their desk a smile slowly started forming until it consumed half of the mans face. He was grinning madly.

"Why my dear boys, it seems you've made your potion perfectly!" He exclaimed "there's such precision, such talent required to do what you two have just done, very well done gentlemen." 

He picked up their vial and placed it in the box amongst the various other yellow (and one brown- Harry assumed that was Neville's) potions. 

"I cant promise anything... but I'm sure you two are in a very good position to win our little 'game'" Slughorn said with a wink before walking away to Blaise's table. 

Draco slicked back his hair with one hand and turned to Harry. 

"It's in the bag" he said with a confident sneer. 

Harry smiled and sat back down in his seat, waiting for the potions to get tested. The longer it took, the more unease he felt. He was starting to feel almost panicky because he was so anxious before Slughorn gathered all the student's projects.

 

"I'm aware you all know that it's illegal for me as a professor to test your potions on any person, so you may be wondering how I'll test them." Slughorn said to the class.

"Why, just test it on Harry" Millicent said in a sickly innocent voice from across the room, causing mild laughter to spread like wild fire. Harry got a sick feeling in his stomach and turned hesitantly to Malfoy. Draco himself looked slightly ill too, he was looking at the ground and he twiddled his thumbs when he felt Harry's glance on his face. 

"Party?" Harry asked miserably.

Draco nodded in a very small movement to confirm Harry's suspicions.

"Class calm down!" Slughorns voice rang out angrily, silencing the class at once. 

"Ten points from Slytherin for bullying and interrupting a teacher" he said with a pointed glare in Millicent's direction, but instead of looking ashamed, she just smirked triumphantly.

Slughorn gave Harry a sympathetic glance before continuing:

"There's a spell I've learned from the ministry when they assigned this project to test the effectiveness of the potion, so fear not- no one will be harmed in the grading of your potions!"

Slughorn promptly pulled out a lemon-juice colored potion that Harry knew to be Hermione's based on the handwriting on the side.

"Revilous Totianic!" Slughorn said with a small flick of his wand aimed at the potion. A faint haze of color emerged from the top, a pale pastel yellow- much lighter than the lemon juice colored potion.

"You see class, the spell will gauge the effectiveness and place it on a scale using the color yellow. The brighter the yellow, the more powerful the potion. Good job" he nodded in Hermione's direction.

After a few potions the excitement and nerves started to wear off and Harry got bored again. Instead of paying attention to the grading process, he admired the way a blonde piece of hair fell slightly from behind Draco's ear, and brushed against his face. Harry also starred at the determined and worried expression pasted across Draco's face, causing him to furrow his brow and scrunch his cheeks. 

Harry did however pay attention to two more grades, the first being Neville's horrendous brown liquid, which produced a color to match the potion. And finally, Harry watched the grading of his and Draco's own potion.

He held his breath when slughorn took out the vial, it was the last one of the class and arguably the best looking. It was the only one not yellow at all, the second closest was Hermione's lemon-juice colored concoction.  
Harry's felt a hand grab his under the table and squeeze in anticipation, he looked over at Draco quickly, but then back to the front- not wanting to miss their grade. After all, it was Harry's only chance to know what happened at that party so long ago. 

"Revilous Totianic!" Slughorn enchanted, every syllable matching to a beat of Harry's heart (which was racing concerningly fast).

Draco squeezed Harry's hand even tighter as a color emitted from their potion. 

Harry breathed out and Draco's hand released in relief as a pure bright yellow hung over the vial. The yellow was so bright it would've made any Hufflepuff proud. Harry grinned and looked over at Draco, who was grinning back at him. 

"I do say!" Slughorn said with a genuine warmth to his voice "we have our winners! Boys please come up here to collect your prize!" He held out two identical bottles of Felix Felicis that looked exactly like the one Harry had won previously. Draco pushed back his chair and strutted to the front, as if he were winning a noble prize instead of a potions project contest. Harry followed quickly after him, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone and hoping he wouldn't trip over his own feet. They collected their potions (as well as a pat on the back from slughorn) and returned to their seats to pack up in the few minutes before the bell rang. All the gryffinodrs in the class looked faintly dissapointed and the slytherins were glaring daggers at the pair of boys. Harry however shrugged it off, and continued to pack. He'd dealt with jealousy before, it didn't phase him anymore. Draco was just purely oblivious to the envy around him, he was humming a song and packing his quills. Harry recognized the song, it was the same one the purple flower had sang. 

"Ugh I hate that song" Harry told Draco, as he slung his packed bag over his shoulder. 

"Oh I totally agree, it's a crime against humanity- but it's stuck in my head." 

Harry grimaced sympathetically "I know the feeling."

Draco finished putting his quills away and they stood in a comfortable silence (save for Draco's humming) for a few moments.

"So..." said Harry, feeling slightly guilty for interrupting the humming.  
"Are you going to tell me what happened at the party?"

Draco's smile vanished and his humming stopped at once. He looked at Harry.

"The Game is over..." Harry trailed off "I won..."

Draco looked faintly sick then, like he had when the students made fun of Harry about the party.

"A deal is a deal" Draco eventually said. He cleared his throat as if something were caught in it.

"Meet me in the room of requirement after dinner and I shall tell you."

And with that, Draco spun on his heels (yet again) and left the classroom, a minute before they were dismissed.

...

Harry hurried through dinner as fast as he could, shoveling the grilled salmon and lemon slices in his face as fast as he could. He was anxious to know what had happened. He finished in record time (he ate a lot faster now that he never really talked to anyone.) and he practically ran to the room of requirement. 

It wasn't anything special this time. It was a small brown room with wood floors and wooden walls. There were no windows and Harry felt slightly like he was suffocating. He waited in the room for a while for Draco, who seemed to be taking as long as possible. 

Harry had sat down to make himself more comfortable while he waited, and he was rather unattractively sprawled on the floor when Draco walked in carrying a crisp white envelope.

"Draco!" Harry said brightly as he sprung up. Butterflies danced in his stomach, though he couldn't tell if it was because of Draco or because of the news he was about to receive. He smiled when he saw Draco at first, but the smile quickly turned to worry when he saw the dismayed and stressed look painted across the other boy's face. 

"Draco..?" Harry asked in a question.

Draco looked at the ground. 

"At the party..." he started but soon trailed off. 

Harry stood there, slightly impatient waiting for Draco to continue. He was just ready to know what had happened. 

Draco shook his head and tried again. 

"The whole Cedric thing..."

Draco frowned and closed his eyes tightly shut before opening them once more. He tried one more time to get the words out.

"Remember that time you asked me in potions class last month..."

Draco paused and swallowed. He shifted his feet and looked at the the envelope in his clutch.

"Yeah" 

"Well I answered you... and you thought I was joking. But."

Draco looked up.

"I wasn't lying."

Harry thought back to that day but he couldn't remember what Draco had said.

"What did you say?" Harry asked "I don't remember." 

Draco just shook his head and sadly starred at the floor. He was so close to Harry, that Harry could see the tears begin to form in his eyes.

"I can't do this!" Draco exclaimed frustrated, finally looking Harry in the eye.

"Can't do what? Tell me?" Harry now was getting angry. "You promised Draco! You pr-"

But his last phrase was cut off by Draco's lips on his own. 

Harry blinked. It took a second to process what was happening. Harry should've backed away. He should've shoved Malfoy off. He should've done something other than what he did do. 

What he did however, was close his eyes and kiss back. He kissed Malfoy with a passion he'd never felt before for anyone- not Ginny, not Cho. Draco's lips were soft and desperate and utterly intoxicating. The movements Draco made with his jaw cleared Harry's mind of all else. And subconsciously, Harry reached out a hand and grabbed the back of Malfoy's head pulling him closer to deepen the kiss. 

Malfoy's lips felt like coming home. They felt like the color yellow. Happy, and warm. Like the sun- his lips made Harry feel like everything would be ok. They tasted like buttered popcorn, salty and sweet and reassuring. Nothing else mattered to Harry if he was kissing Draco Malfoy. He closed his eyes and saw yellow fireworks exploding in his mind. As if his brain was telling him "yes, this is what we've been looking for all along." All of the emotions he'd been feeling when he was near Draco were starting to make sense. 

When, just as suddenly as the kiss had started, it ended. Draco pulled back as if it burned him to touch Harry, and Harry opened his mouth to protest. However the tears in Draco's eyes as well as the tears streaming down his face silenced him. 

Draco shoved the (now crumpled) letter against Harry's chest.

And for the last time, Draco Malfoy spun on his heels and walked away, leaving Harry behind.

Harry blinked and tried to process what had happened. 

He sunk to the floor in a small heap. Deciding that reading Draco's letter would help ease some of the new feelings Harry was experiencing, Harry opened the letter. 

 

 

"Dear Harry,

If you're reading this it means you won our little game. Congratulations, and may I be the first to say I didn't think you had it in you. But then again, you are constantly surprising me with everything you do. With everything you say. 

That's one of the things I love about you Harry.

Yes. Love.

The truth is I think I've fallen in love with you Harry Potter (and trust me- I was distraught to realize this).

I suppose I should clarify some things for you, so you're not as confused, you always were slightly thick when it came to things like this.

It all started at the party, we played truth or dare using veritaserum (which I don't know WHY we did- have you seen the people in our year?) 

The first thing you did, was tell everyone about how you had to die to kill Voldemort, (and can I say you really know how to shut a room up). 

But that's not what everyone tried to keep from you.

About halfway through the game Seamus Finnegan asked you a question. 

He asked "have you ever had any gay thoughts" and once again you silenced the room in surprise when you said yes.

Now, based on the idiotic expression you wore after saying that, I think you didn't know either- I think that you suppressed your emotions or didn't realize them at all. And when questioned further, you admitted that you had fallen in love with Cedric Diggory your fourth year.

And finally the last thing that happened at the party, was when Hermione Granger (yes Hermione Granger- your best friend) dared me to kiss you. And I did. 

I think that's when I realized I liked you.

I definitely didn't love you then. No. I think I properly fell in love that night you carried the butterbeer for me. When you told me about your past. I never realized how good you were despite all the shit you've gone through. Because I always blamed the bitterness and evil in me on the terrible things that have happened. But you, you've gone through such tragedy your entire life and still remain so honorable. And the goodness in you erased the evil in me when I was near you. 

Maybe that's why I shared my secrets with you when we made that potion.

Maybe that's why the thought that triggered my patronus was kissing you at the party.

Maybe that's why I invited you to play quidditch with me, just so I could spend time with you.

I kept denying it and denying it, until eventually I couldn't. 

I'm in love with you Harry Potter, utterly and completely head over heels in love.

Embarrassingly in love.

There are several problems with this though.

The first being the fact that you most likely don't reciprocate my feelings. The second being that I have recently found out my mother has arranged a marriage for me once I graduate school. With Astoria Greengrass- she's in our grade you might know her. She's lovely to look at but doesn't have much of a personality. 

So you see Harry, even if by some miracle you loved me back- we couldn't be together. It'd be impossible. My family wouldn't allow it, and I have to do as they say. It's all ive ever been taught in life. It's all I know. 

I know after all this time we've become friends of sorts, but being with you after this letter is delivered would just hurt. 

And I don't want to hurt anymore. I've already hurt enough in my life.

So that's why I'm begging you to do one last thing for the game. Please don't talk to me again. Please don't look at me again. Please don't be near me anymore Harry, love. 

Because I simply cannot take it.

Yours forever and always,

Draco Malfoy. 

 

Harry hadn't noticed he was crying until he finished the letter and noticed fat tear drops had splashed onto the paper and were causing the ink to run. His hands were shaking as he carefully folded the letter, like it was a delicate flower, and placed it in his pocket.

Harry thought of all the things he loved about Draco Malfoy.

The butterflies. How Draco looked. His smile. His laugh. His hair. His eyes. His teeth. His lips. His nose. His walk. Him. 

It sounded exactly like what apparently happened fourth year. Falling in love and not even realizing it.

Only this time he did.

Harry Potter was in love with Draco Malfoy.

The news in the letter about the gay thoughts surprised him at first, but not anymore. Not after kissing Draco like that. 

Harry was in love with Draco, but Draco asked him to stay away because they couldn't be together. It wasn't possible. 

But he was Harry God damn Potter and he'd done the impossible so many times before. He'd come back from the dead. He'd survived the killing curse twice, he killed the darkest wizarding lord of all time.

If there was something Harry knew how to do, it was the impossible.

And so Harry had an idea.

This was just another game, and Harry Potter was not going to lose.


	12. Winner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays! Hope you enjoy this update as a bit of a holiday treat ;) 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, the story is almost done, and it's so bittersweet to me. My first ever fanfic! I'm blown away by the support I got for it, and want to thank you all! Fun fact: this was originally supposed to be a oneshot, but I got a bit carried away... 
> 
>  
> 
> There should be one more chapter after this! Thank you for sticking with me (until the very end).
> 
> As always, feel free to leave a comment, and enjoy! 
> 
>  
> 
> ...

Harry walked out of the Room of Requirement stiffly, his face emotionless and his hands in his pockets. He strolled down the hall casually as not to draw attention to himself from all the passerbys, though what he really wanted to do, was sprint down to the dungeons as fast as he could. If there was one thing Harry was bad at (besides consuming alcohol of course) it was his patience. And every slow step he took on his descent down to the Slytherin entrance killed him. He touched the letter in his pocket softly with the tips of his fingers, and thought about the soft blonde hair and bright grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. The thought alone reaffirmed him, and his stiff strides turned confident. 

Eventually, through great effort, Harry was standing in front of the Slytherin door entrance, he remembered it from second year. It was a tall door carved in the stone of the dungeons with emeralds peaking out at almost every corner. It was breathtakingly beautiful, a cruel powerful beauty that represented the Slytherin house so well. 

Harry thought back to what he'd thought of them originally, how he hated the whole lot strictly because of the colors on a tie they wore. But after all the time he spent with Draco, he realized how wrong he was. Slytherins weren't just the evil self-serving bastards he'd thought they were. In fact, they were rather like Gryffindors. Loyal to their families and friends, willing to fight to protect their honor. And their determination was practically identical. Not to mention the stubbornness of both houses...

Draco Malfoy had opened his eyes to so much in the short month he talked with him. Now Harry truly knew why Hermione pushed for Interhouse unity. Because all of these labels people forced onto others were ridiculous. Harry hated to think of all the people who hated Slytherins because of Voldemort, and all of the slytherins that despised gryffindors for the same reason. It really wasn't their fault, it was years of prejudice that forced and brainwashed everyone, and Harry was ready to put an end to it, especially to the constant unreasonable rivalry between the slytherins and the Gryffindors.

After all, silver and gold may be different, but they're both valuable all the same. 

And Draco's silver eyes were the only thing that Harry knew to be right in the world. So really, how bad could silver be? 

It was ironic, Harry realized, that his green eyes paired with Malfoy's were the Slytherin house colors. He thought back long ago to his first year at Hogwarts when the sorting hat tried to put him into Slytherin. He wondered how differently life would've been if he had let it. 

Would he have been on the opposite side of the war, killing muggle borns and squibs, jinxing every Hufflepuff in sight?

Or would his life just have been the same, except sitting at a different table, with Draco by his side instead of Ron. 

With Draco holding his hand instead of Ginny.

All of this realization happened at once, hitting Harry with a staggering blow as he stared at the intricately carved snakes on the door. 

When suddenly the door swang forward.

Harry looked up at the emerging student expectantly, but was disappointed to see the sharp face of Pansy Parkinson.

Her eyes instantly focused on him and narrowed with suspicion.

"What are you doing here Potter?" She asked in a clear cool voice that washed over him in waves. 

"I- I- " Harry stuttered at a loss of words for what to say.

"Do you have a death wish?" 

She stepped out of the door, closer to Harry.

Harry cleared his throat and remembered why he was there- the importance of his situation. 

"I came to speak to Draco." 

"Oh, its 'Draco' now is it?" Pansy asked, curiosity dancing in her voice, "i didn't realize you were on a first name basis."

 

"Well, we are." Harry said simply, not explaining further.

Pansy smiled in a playfully torturous way and twirled around to face the door.

"I guess I can be a few minutes late to the library, Potter, but you owe me." She winked as she walked back into the Common room and closed the door loudly behind her, leaving Harry in an uncomfortable cold silence alone in the dungeons.

Harry waited impatiently for a few minutes, tapping his toes against the hard floor and listening to the ring it made in the hollow dungeon. 

The door opened again and Harry looked up excitedly. It was Pansy again, and her previously playful smirk was replaced with an expression of genuine worry. She had an almost protective aura around her.

"Draco has filled me in on a few details..." Pansy said, her voice no longer clear, but more garbled. 

"And..." Harry said, loosing hope quickly based on the pained expression Pansy wore. 

"And he does not wish to speak to you."

Harry's heart sunk to the floor. He felt his face fall. 

"But..." he sputtered out indignantly,  
"I need to talk to him."

Pansys face filled with sympathy, an emotion he'd never seen on her before, she took his arm and gently pulled him away from the common room door.

"Potter, I wouldn't expect you to understand the position Draco is in. You're a Gryffindor and a half-blood. But in the Slytherin pure-blood families, you do exactly as your family says. It's how life is. If you don't, you get disowned and you shame your families name for centuries. There's a certain underlying pressure that accompanies the name "Malfoy". Draco normally shines under pressure, like the pearl he is. But after introducing you into the equation, he wants to stray away from his duties to his families, and he will crack. Him talking to you again, just might kill him, Potter. And if you ever truly had any feelings like the ones Draco has for you- if you really love him, you'll leave him." 

Harry starred at her in shock, he could feel the heat of unwelcomed tears pushing from behind his eyes.

"Isn't there a muggle quote that says 'if you love something, set it free?' " Pansy looked him in the eyes and gave him a small smile.

"I'm sorry Potter, but as Draco's friend I cannot allow you to talk to him. Goodnight."

With that, she turned on her heels in a very Draco-ish manner and walked back to the emerald incrusted door. She looked back at him one last time.

"I know what you Gryffindors think of slytherins" she called out, "that we only do things for personal gain, that we're liars and cowards and untrustworthy."  
She swallowed a lump of emotion caught in her throat.

"But I'm asking you, to please trust me this one time."

She closed the door and left Harry standing there, alone and shocked, with a single tear running down his cheek.

He wiped it away though. Pansy was right about the muggle quote, but she forgotten the last half of it.

If you love something, let it go.

If it comes back, it was truly yours. 

Harry had a new plan. A new hope. 

He went to go find his invisibility cloak, and he was glad as hell that the house elves still liked him. 

...

At first when Draco Malfoy noticed the loosely wrapped green box on his bed, he thought nothing of it. He'd just gotten back from his Ancient runes class. He'd hoped to get his schedule rearranged, so he wouldn't have any classes with Harry, but he had been denied. Pansy had offered to be his guard for classes with the gryffindors, and Draco had graciously accepted. 

But the thing was, he only stayed away from Harry because he knew it would just cause him pain. But all he wanted to do was run up to Harry and snog him until his lips fell off. Because Draco had always been weak, and he knew without Pansy he'd give into potters temptation. 

It was a good thing Pansy wasn't there when Draco found the package.

When he first saw it, he assumed it was an early Christmas present from some distant relative, or friend of the family, and he was about to toss it into his chest, with the rest of the presents he'd received. But then he noticed the messy scrawling handwriting on top of the package. It made his heart stop, it surely couldn't be Potter's writing, Draco reasoned with himself.  
He thumbed the lettering, 

"Open upon receiving" it said in thick black strokes. 

There was really only one way to know for sure if it was Harry's. 

And Draco, with a startling need, tore the box open. His eyes roamed over the contents of the box hungrily, his heart was thumping loudly in his ears. The box contained two things, a silk cloak that had the appearance of water, and a letter. Draco ran his hand over the cloak once, before he gathered the courage to pick up the letter. 

He was right.

It was from Harry. 

He should've put it down. If he had any self control left, he would've. But after hanging out with Potter, Draco had developed some of his self destructive habits. 

 

"Draco, 

I've always been shit at writing. I've always been shit at a lot of things to be fair...

But I need you. I need to talk to you. I know you told me to go away. 

But I need to talk to you one more time. 

The cloak in this package is an invisibility cloak, it's how I always ran around the school without getting caught. Please Draco, love, meet me in the room of requirements tonight at midnight. 

I have so much to say.

Love, Harry. 

 

Draco crumpled the letter in his hand and took in deep breaths, willing the tears he felt arising to go away. 

Then, because he was a fucking disgrace to the Malfoy name, he uncrumpled the letter, and cried.

 

...

Harry had been so anxious about their meeting, that he had arrived an hour early. He didn't really need the invisibility cloak to sneak around Hogwarts, after you defeat the darkest wizarding lord of all time you pretty much get a free pass on everything. 

Luckily the room stayed true to its name, and provided Harry with what appeared to be a small library to quench his boredom while he waited. 

He tried reading for a while, but no matter how good the book was, he just couldn't get into it. Harry was constantly going over every possibility for tonight, hoping Draco would show up. 

Harry didn't know what he would do if he didn't. 

... 

Draco sat in his bed, curtains drawn, listening for his classmates to fall asleep. It sounded like they were. But Draco had to be careful. He knew they would stop him if they found out what he was doing. 

But he had to go.

Draco didn't know what he would do if he didn't.

...

 

Harry had started pacing by the fire at around 11:50. He couldn't help but admire the room, it had really out done itself. The room was filled with tall wooden bookshelves that surrounded a little alcove in the center. There was a plush lavender couch near the carved fire place, and an antique rug that looked like it belonged in the Malfoy Manor.

He had to remind himself to breathe as he walked. His chest was tight, his mind was racing. 

This one meeting was going to change his future forever. 

If Draco showed up.

...

Draco had to admit, the invisibility cloak impressed him. He slipped it on after he'd left the common rooms, it was rather cold in the dungeons, but the cloak kept him warm. It also smelled like Harry, which made Draco happy in a bittersweet way.

He kept wondering though, why he was doing this. No good could come of it. Only pain and heartbreak. 

But the cloak was warm, and Draco decided he didn't need a reason at that moment. This year was supposed to be his year. His one year of being happy and doing what he wanted. 

And what he wanted was to talk with Harry. 

...

Harry was a nervous wreck at 12:03.

At 12:04 he'd lost hope.

At 12:05 he resigned himself to sit on the couch and accept that Draco hadn't come.

At 12:06 Harry almost wept tears of relief as Draco Malfoy opened the door.

 

The sound of the heavy wooden door creaking had caused Harry to bolt to the door. In what seemed to be slow motion, he watched Draco Malfoy smoothly remove Harry's invisibility cloak. Draco looked at him with hesitance in his eyes, and Harry looked at him with shock, as if he'd just seen a ghost.

And, to be fair, Draco did look ghostly in that moment. His blonde hair had turned white in the soft light of the torches, his pale skin seemed translucent, and he was wearing a simple white shirt and expensive looking grey pajamas. He looked like something out of a nightmare. 

No.

He looked like something out of a dream.

Harry took a slow step towards him, afraid that if he moved to fast, Draco would bolt like a rabbit.

"D-Draco." 

"Harry." 

Harry swallowed the nerves in his throat and cleared his mind of his worries. Draco had come back to him.

If you love something set it free, and if it comes back, it was truly yours. 

Draco had come back.

The two boys starred at each other for a while, taking in the appearances of the other, as if this is the first time they'd seen each other in a while. As if they were two new people. And in a sense, they were. 

Eventually though, Draco broke the silence. 

"You wanted to talk." He said simply, and Harry nodded. 

Still unsure of what he was doing, Harry reached forward and took Draco's hand. 

Draco let him.

Encouraged by this, Harry walked over with Draco to the plush couch and fire. 

It was warm, and Draco was here. Harry felt a lot lighter, a lot happier, he knew- er, he hoped, his plan would work. 

When seated on the couch they looked at each other again. In a comfortable silence they sat, hands together, eyes connected. It felt oddly intimate.

"I-I'm not exactly sure what to say" Harry admitted to Draco after a while.

Draco smiled sadly, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders because of these words. Harry wanted so desperately to help carry that weight. To let Draco be free. 

"Well, you wrote that you had so much to say, so it seems you've decieved me Harry Potter" Draco said softly,  
"What a Slytherin thing to do." 

"And you listened to the letter, and broke the rules to meet me here, what a Gryffindor thing to do."

Draco smiled wider at that, his eyes losing some of their sadness. 

 

"You might as well say what you're trying to say Harry, after all it's a library" Draco gestured to the shelves around them, "there's always a silencing charm so no one else can hear you."

Harry looked at him, truly looked at him, and saw all the things he loved about him. 

"I- I guess I should just be honest..." Harry trailed on, looking down at their joint hands. 

"The feeling you wrote about, its mutual," Harry inwardly cursed himself for being so awkward. "what I mean, is that I love you. Er, I'm in love with you too."

Harry looked up to see Draco's reaction. 

His lips were parted ever so slightly, and his face was flushed with a light pink. His eyes sparkled with light.

He looked the happiest he'd ever seen them.

"And, I don't think I've ever been in love before, after feeling what this feels like. And it's not something I'm going to give up readily." Harry was gaining confidence as he starred into Draco's eyes. "Falling in love with you was never something I expected, never something I ever imagined would happen. It's like drinking firewhiskey, at first it was painful and it burned, but being here with you now, is warm, and I've forgotten all else in the world."

Draco's grin was widening, and tears were forming in the corner of his eyes.

"I love you Draco Malfoy, and i know you think it's impossible for us to be together because of your family, but you're not alone anymore. I'm here now. I can help you with everything, together we can make this work." 

Draco choked out what seemed to be a mixture of a laugh and a sob. 

He looked at Harry, with a fire in his eyes. 

"Please, say something..." Harry whispered to him. 

Draco smiled, and obliged.

"Love is an empty void that so many people fall into, at least for me. 

It's bottomless.

But it's so dark and empty, there's no promise of a future.

I'm Infinitely trapped."

A tear fell down his face as he continued. 

"At least, that's how it used to seem. But now you're here and you're so bright. So good, you've lightened the void, and now I can see again. I'm infinitely trapped, but now it's no longer in darkness, it's in a golden light, with you."

Harry smiled back at him, softly, and leaned in closing the distance between their lips.

This was different than the kiss before, this was slow and gentle, as if they had all the time in the world. Harry could taste Draco's tears. Butterflies were bursting from Harry's stomach, and his heart beat in his ears. This was perfect. He wanted to spend the rest of his life like this, with one hand tangled in Draco's hair, and the other intertwined with his. Their lips together, perfectly moving, perfectly fitting, perfectly perfect. 

There was only one thing running through Harry's mind,

Draco Malfoy. 

 

Soon enough though, Draco pulled his mouth away. He pressed their foreheads together though, so their eyes were inches apart. 

"What about my family- what if they disown me." 

"I'm here. You won't be alone. You'll never be alone ever again."

Draco relaxed slightly at that, and his hands moved to hold Harry's. Harry could still see the anxiety in his eyes.

"I won't be a Malfoy anymore if they disown me" he whispered slightly, "I won't have a last name."

"Then you can have mine." 

Draco laughed "its almost like a marriage proposal." 

"something like that." 

"What about the winter holidays, where will I go? And the summer, and forever?" 

Harry smiled "I can make up with Ron I suppose, and then you can come with me to the Weasley's." 

"The Weasley's?" Draco asked with an incredulous voice. 

Harry laughed at that, "they're not as bad as you think, and if you're with me, they'll treat you as family," Harry titled Draco's chin, "Molly might even make you a Christmas sweater!" He feigned cheery excitement. 

Draco looked at Harry, with love in his eyes.  
He looked at Harry as if he had hung the moon, as if all of the troubles in the world vanished because of him. And Harry couldnt help it, Draco looked so adorable, he leaned in for another kiss. 

They kissed for a while. So long that Harry's lips grew sore, and the fire slowly started dying. They kissed until they were too tired to continue, and fell asleep. Together, on that plush couch, in each other's arms.


	13. Endgame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. This is it. The final chapter. I just want to thank everybody who read this, the support I got blew me away. It was such a fun experience being able to write this, so thank you. 
> 
> As always, feel free to comment down below, and enjoy :)
> 
>  
> 
> (Also shout out to anyone who gets the Carry On reference in this chapter)

It had been two years since he and Potter had officially gotten together, and about a year and half since they'd graduated Hogwarts. 

Draco smiled as he remembered when they'd “officially” gotten together. Harry had stuck true to what he'd said, he made up with Ron and they spent that Christmas at the Burrow. And perhaps the most surprising thing to happen, was that Draco enjoyed that Christmas. He and the Weasleys had fought at first, over almost everything- politics, interior design, wrapping paper color schemes, you name it. But, as the break had progressed everyone had seen how happy Draco made Harry, and they'd eased up a bit. They were practically family now, although he would never admit that to any of his old Slytherin friends. 

They came out to the school a few weeks after winter break. They did it casually, holding hands in the hallways, eating at each other's tables, walking each other to class. They'd hoped to ease everyone into it slowly, as it was quite a shock for the younger years. Though, some of the eighth years had seen it coming (Theodore Nott had apparently been making bets on it all November long). The Daily Prophet had a field day when they found out. Well, more like a field month. Every paper for the month of January had a picture of Draco and Harry holding hand on the front page. The titles of the pieces were the best part, they ranged from “ THE BOY WHO LIVED FINALLY FINDS LOVE “ to “ DANGEROUS DEATH EATER SEDUCING HARRY POTTER?”. He'd found them hilarious and saved every single article he could find, and planned on making a scrapbook of them- just to embarrass Harry. 

Harry.

That last half year at Hogwarts had to have been some of Draco's favourite memories of the school.

Draco reminisced about everything he and Harry had done. Of course they'd used the invisibility cloak to their advantage, and the Room of requirement. But, some of his favourite memories were simple ones. 

Harry and he walking around the lake at night.

Countless seeker’s games and quidditch games at the quidditch pitch.

Harry holding Draco and comforting him when he cried after they'd told his family. 

Harry nervously sweating in the Malfoy’s dining room after they decided to give him a chance and invited him over for dinner. 

Harry's relieved face when Narcissa had finally approved of him (and Harry later admitting he'd used his Felix Felicis that night).

Harry shakily giving him a promise ring in the room of requirements at the end of the year. 

Harry.

Draco fiddled with the small vial in his hand. He'd won it as a prize from a game in potions long ago, but he never used it. He always kept it, just in case he found the perfect use for it. And he finally had. 

Harry. 

These past two years had been the best of Draco's life. Full of laughing and kisses and extravagant parties. 

Their futures seemed bright as well. Harry had finally become an Auror, like he always wanted too, but was debating about whether he wanted to pursue teaching instead. Draco was preparing himself for a Tryout with the Manchester Manticores (a new quidditch team) in two week. 

Draco couldn't have pictured a better life than what he had now. He never wanted it to end, he never wanted to spend another day without Harry again. 

Draco uncorked the vial with shaking hands and slowly placed it at his mouth. He breathed in the scent of the potion. It smelled wonderful, like what he imagined the color yellow would smell like. Happy and lovely and full of light. 

 

Like Harry. 

Staring at himself in the bathroom mirror of the flat he and Harry shared, Draco worked up the courage to go through with it.

He inhaled the scent of yellow one last time, savoring the happiness that came over him. It was almost intoxicating. 

With a determined fixation, Draco tilted the glass back and drained the potion down his throat in one gulp.

It tasted lovely. Warm and thick, like buttered popcorn. 

He felt the warmness fill up inside his entire body slowly, like he was a balloon inflating. And all of his nerves went away. He knew, that his plan would work. 

Draco smiled at himself in the mirror, gaining confidence quickly. He thumbed the black box in his jacket pocket. It was small, but it contained something huge. Something full of the promise of a life together. Forever and always all wrapped up in a golden band. 

"Draco" Harry called from just outside the bathroom door, "are you done yet? McGonagall is expecting us any minute in her office to talk, and the floo powder is almost timed out!"

"I'll be right out!" Draco called back. 

He smiled at himself in the mirror. Their 'meeting' with McGonagall wasn't just a catch up tea, like Harry expected. Draco had owled her to create the perfect disguise 

Sure they would have tea with her, and discuss Harry's possible future as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, but on their way out Draco planned for them to take an unexpected stop. 

In the Room of Requirements. 

Where it had all began.

 

Where it would all end.

Draco thought Harry would appreciate that, especially since he seemed so fond of the quote “I open at the close”. 

...

 

They were dancing. Or, at least Draco was dancing. Harry was doing his best. It made Draco smile, after all those formal balls they'd gotten invited to, and harry still couldn't dance. But what Harry lacked in dancing abilities, he made up for in looks. 

Harry had taken Draco's breath away when he saw him for the first time. Walking down the aisle in the nicest suit Draco had ever seen on him. It was the exact grey of Draco's eyes, and tailored to fit Harry perfectly. Harry Potter looked stunning in a grey suit. It paired wonderfully with the green flowers on his lapel. Even now, after the ceremony and an hour of dancing, Harry still looked beautiful. His hair had somehow managed to stay tidy throughout all of the ceremony (Draco suspected magic) but was now back to its normal mess. Draco smiled and ran his fingers through it.

He was so happy in that moment. He was with the love of his life, surrounded by their friends and family. 

The only bad part of the night was the song currently playing. Draco hated it, despised it even. But Harry for some odd reason requested it be played at least once, he mentioned something about a ‘purple flower’ and ‘irony’. Draco couldnt deny his fiancée’s one wish. He was going to give his his husband, everything he ever wanted for the rest of their lives. Starting with that (horrendous) song. 

He'd make it a game, anything Harry wanted, Draco would give him. 

But the thing about this game, was that Draco had already won. He'd won the second that gold ring was slipped on his finger. He'd won the second he shakily said “I do.”

And he'd gotten the greatest prize of all.

Harry.

 

…

 

Harry had been quite uncomfortable in his suit all evening, but he knew he looked good in it. Every time Draco saw him, his eyes would flash with lust and love, and Harry would laugh. 

Draco looked stunning too. His slim black suit showed off every curve of his body, and his hair fell in loose strands meticulously placed around his face. He looked like a fairytale prince, one that had come to save the day. His Prince. His hero. For once, Harry didn't have to be the hero, and he was so tired of being the hero. Draco had changed all of that.

His life had turned out completely different from what he'd expected, from what anyone had expected. But it had turned out exactly like it was meant to. Harry knew it did. There wasn't anything more perfect in the world than this wedding to Harry. 

It was beautiful and extravagant and loud. It was something Harry totally would've never pictured for himself before he met Draco, but it was so perfect. 

It was perfect, just like Draco. 

They were dancing now, they had been dancing for a while. Harry just didn't want to let go of Draco, but Draco genuinely wanted to dance. Harry tried his best to keep up with the dance moves but failed spectacularly every time. Draco didn't get angry though, he never did. Not even when Harry stepped on his toes or stumbled into him. Draco would just laugh, and look at Harry in a way that made Harry feel like they were the only two on the planet. Harry wanted every moment of his life to feel like that. He wanted to wake up every day and see those silver eyes looking at him like that. And he knew now he would. He smiled down at the little gold ring on his hand and internally thanked the world. He thanked the world for giving him Draco Malfoy. The love of his life. 

The music changed then, to a slower song. The witches voice crooned on about finding true love. 

Harry stopped dancing, and pulled away. 

He looked at Draco and smiled, Draco smiled back. 

 

“May I have this dance?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Draco threw back his head and laughed.

“Why yes, Potter, this one and all the others too.”

Harry’s smiled widened at what Draco had said.

“What?” Draco asked, noticing Harry's new expression.

“It's just that, you called me Potter…”

Draco rolled his eyes, but smiled.

“And?”

“Well, you're a Potter now too.”

Draco, in response, threw his arms around Harry's neck and kissed him.

“I guess you're right.” 

He thought back to what Draco had said in his letter when he admitted his love to Harry so long ago. That this all started a party.

Harry laughed.  
"I definitely think that party achieved interhouse unity" he said. 

Draco grinned back at him.  
"I love you" Draco said, with his lovely, posh voice. 

Harry loved his voice so much. He loved the way draco enunciated every consonant. He loved the way Draco drawled the vowels out. But what he loved the most, was how he said ‘I love you’ 

 

"I love you too." Harry said back. Meaning it more than anything he'd ever said before. 

He leaned in and kissed him, and for the faintest second, Harry tasted firewhiskey and buttered popcorn.

 

The End.


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